Cry of the Gods
by Erailea Evenstar
Summary: A dark and powerful force has locked away the four gods. In a last attempt to get help they summoned a shy girl named Lily from another world, now she must brave this force to release the gods from their imprisonment before hell brakes loose. TasxOC, Chir
1. Chapter 1

I don't own Fushigi Yuugi

This was just a random idea I got when I was writing my other FY story _Silent Hope_ (which is posted on the site) and it just developed into a full pledge story.

This is a Tasuki x OC and Chichiri x ?story. Who Chichiri will be with will be revealed as time goes on (several chapters in), no need to take away from the fun, ne? My OC is different than most OC'swith this given relationship, meaning she doesn't have the fierce attitude or pretending to be a guy thing going (not that there's anything wrong with that, I just wanted to do something different than everyone else and this is just how it played out in my mind regardless of what I wanted. Lol)

Hope you enjoy the first chapter (please remember to review)

* * *

**Chapter 1**

"Tell me again why we're heading in this direction?" Tasuki asked as he brushed a low riding tree branch out of his way.

He was twenty years of age with fire red hair and light brown hair, extended teardrop like earrings, a necklace with green and purple beads and a slightly larger necklace with red and gold colored beads. He wore a magenta colored sleeveless shirt that went past his waist, a white shirt under it, a dark red belt, a thicker gold colored belt hung loosely on a diagonal at his waist as well, white pants with a golden cuff like object around his right leg (half way to his knee) and magenta colored boots. His enchanted metal fan, known as a tessen, was strapped to his back.

"Taiitsukun said we might find something important this way," Chichiri said for what seemed like the hundredth time. "It was the last fragment of information she got from Genbu before he was locked away with the rest of the gods."

Chichiri was a twenty-six year old monk with blue hair that had gravity defying arced bangs and a small ponytail going to the middle of his back. He currently was not wearing his mask revealing a pinkish scar that sealed his left eye shut and a deep red colored eye. He wore a beaded necklace with small red and larger green beads around his neck, a white shirt, a blue cloak with bubbles on it (also known as a kesa) strapped over one shoulder, brown pants that came to just below his knees where a white material with black thin material curling around it met and ended just above his ankles and black slipper like shoes.

Lily looked at them and sighed. Chichiri had been traveling without his mask for sometime now and she was starting to miss the jovial antics of the monk to break all the stress and worry she held. She of course would not speak of this as she did not want to offend him, knowing that his jovial side was simply a façade to hide a past he had recently come to terms with.

Lily was and eighteen year old teen with brown eyes and long brown hair that had natural blond and red highlights, in a high ponytail. She was wearing cloths she had pawned off of Kouji, Tasuki's best friend, when they had been at the bandit hideout some time back. In truth that was simply a joke between the two of them as Koji had really gone to a town near the hideout and had gotten them for her after Tasuki had asked him to. They consisted of a light blue tunic, dark blue belt, a long sleeve white shirt under it, white pants and black slipper like shoes.

"Somethin' the matter Lil?" Tasuki asked catching her saddened look.

"No," she said with a fake smile to reassure him. In truth all the stress of recent events had been adding up in her mind and were beginning to drain her both mentally and physically. How did Taiitsukun expect her to save to gods? Wasn't it supposed to be the other way around?

Just the thought of it sent her mind into a frenzy and she wished desperately that she could just wake up at home only to realize that everything was just one huge dream. This of course had never happened in the past and she doubted it would happen now.

'_Restrain from using your god given powers as much as possible,'_ Taiitsukun had told the two Suzaku seshi's she traveled with when they had met with her what seemed like ages ago.

It had been the same day they had all met the god known as Byakko, in his human form anyway. He had spoken of some dark and powerful force holding the other three gods dormant, sealing their powers away. _'While the powers Suzaku granted to you normally recharges themselves after every use you will find that now it will simply become less and less. Soon that power will cease to be if he and the rest of the gods are not released. Your powers won't be the only things to suffer from the absence of your god however, your entire country will suffer gravely, as will all the other country's with missing gods.'_

Byakko had somehow escaped being detained himself for sometime and had helped Lily and the two seshi's she traveled with the best he could. Unfortunately even he had a difficult time finding out anything that would aid in the release of the entrapped gods and even Genbu was not able to stay free forever. He was captured and locked away with the other three gods (Suzaku, Genbu and Seiryuu) not long ago.

Lily sighed and rubbed her temples as another headache began to form. How was it that she had gone from this quiet, mentally troubled girl who had been ready to take her own life seven months ago to the slightly more determined girl who had to save the four gods of a different world or have the deaths of millions on her conscious for all eternity?

All she wanted to do was curl up in a dark corner and hide from all of this. She may have become a bit more determined, but there was no way in the seven hells she was ready for something like this! This was by far worse than any of the miko's had to ever go through. Sure they had to save the country their god represented, but never did they have to save the entire world without the help of even one god!

'How did this all begin?' Lily asked herself. Her mind was quick to answer that question.

vvvv

Lily sighed in depression as she began the short walk home from school for what she hoped would be the last time. School, as usual, had been anything but pleasant as a group of preps thought it was fun to trip her several times between classes, nearly throw her down a flight of stairs (which would have happened had a teacher not begun his accent up the same set of stairs), destroy one of her major art projects that was due that day and other wise harass her to no end.

It's not like she hadn't tried to get help because she had, even her closest friend Cathy had tried. But the school was full of moronic people that called themselves principles and guidance councilors. All they had done was call they band of preps in question down, threatened them with referrals and suspensions and let them go. They didn't understand that what they had done had little effect on them, besides for making them become more careful to not get caught by the faculty.

She had dealt with harassment for years now and she was so tired of it; mentally, physically and spiritually. She wanted to end the pain, the laughs of delight as she was harassed and just let Cathy get on with her life instead of constantly worrying over her.

It's not like anyone would be there this time to stop her. Her parents were out of town on business trips and wouldn't be back for a week and a half, she had no siblings and Cathy was pulled by her boyfriend to the movies for a date that was long overdue.

With another sigh she kept her pace. It wouldn't be long now.

That's when in happened. There was a noise like a gun going off and next she knew she was on the ground with something rather heavy on top of her. What ever it was took quick notice and scrambled to their feet before helping her up, muttering a series of apologies as they did so.

"It's alright," Lily said softly as she brushed herself off. When she looked up she was surprised to see a boy taller than her with fiery red hair looking down at her.

"Didn' hurt ya did I?" he asked, though she doubted he was that concerned, just being polite.

She shook her head, "Not the first time I've been knocked to the ground, but hopefully it's the last."

The red head nodded, not catching what she had meant, as he looked around. "Where am I?"

"Green Port," she told him, slightly confused as to how he had just appeared.

"Green Port?" he made a face, revealing a small fang, "Never 'eard of it."

"Long Island?" she asked.

He looked at her in bewilderment and shook his head. A car passed by at that moment and the redhead looked as if he'd seen a ghost, "Wha-What was that monster!"

Lily blinked in confusion, "A car…"

"A what?"

"Car," she repeated.

"What the heck is a 'car'?" he asked as color slowly came to his face as he looked up and down the street as if to see if any of the 'monstrous' things would appear again.

"It a piece of machinery that offers transportation," she replied, still very confused by him.

The redhead nodded dumbly, not really understanding it still, but didn't really want to know how people used the 'monsters' for transportation. He didn't even know what this 'machinery' was, but didn't want to ask about that either.

Lily shook her head and murmured, "Who are you?"

The man heard her soft question and turned to her, "Genrou, but I'm also known as Tasuki."

Lily hadn't been expecting him to hear her, but nodded at the response. "Do you need a place to stay?" Had those words just come from her mouth!

Tasuki looked around him, "Based on the fact I have no clue where I am I'd have to say ya."

Lily sighed inwardly, but wouldn't do it outwardly since she had been stupid enough to ask the question in the first place. She turned and motioned for him to follow.

It wasn't long until they had reached her house, but not before several shrieks from Tasuki as cars went by. She opened the front door and stepped into the kitchen of the three story house, Tasuki right behind her.

"Wow," Tasuki said in awe as he took everything in. What would have been an every day appliance was new, amazing and even bewildering to the oddly dressed redhead.

"Where are you from?" Lily asked as she placed the small bag that had been lying at her side on the counter.

"Konan," he said as he looked in awe at the microwave. He figured it wouldn't be wise to tell her he was a bandit leader just yet.

"Sounds Chinese," she said softly.

Tasuki turned to her and nodded, "It is." He thought a moment, "I never did catch your name."

"I never threw it," she said softly with a faint smile, something she had not done in a long while. "Lily, or Lil."

She led him up a flight of stairs and showed him the room he could use during his stay, having to explain a few of the things in the room such as what a clock was and how the light switch and lamps worked.

This was going to be a rather interesting stay for the two of them.

* * *

So we got what's going on in the present then we went to the past. This is the first time I'm doing a story like this, meaning the past plays out in several chapters. I finished a story not long ago with several memories in it, but the first half of it wasn't completely a memory like this is. I did this so we get the gist of what's going on and then we learn about where the main character is coming from as her character is developed. The way I wrote it came out rather nicely even though it's different than how I would usually go about things. 

So what's Lily's past hold?

We'll find out a bit in the next chapter.

Please review

Thank you.


	2. Chapter 2

I don't own Fushigi Yuugi

Thanks_Lovebuggy_ for reviewing. Na, I don't think it was a flame, so don't fret. Upon looking back over it again I see your point in saying it. I'll keep that in mind for the future. Thanks.

To some people this chapter might seem a bit rushed, but that's because over the course of two weeks nothing much happens and I didn't want to bore people too much. Lol. There are entertaining parts, so don't worry. Remember these events are also in the past, which explains the format of this chapter (which will be dropped after it, meaning it won't seem something like an overlay. But I needed to do this to cover two weeks quickly, but with enough information for you, the readers, to understand what's happening).

On with the tale!

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**Chapter 2**

Tasuki had been at Lily's house for a week now and the two got along as if they had known each other for years. He would venture with her to school when it was in session and take in everything he could in the world he had revealed wasn't his own.

The first day Tasuki had gone with Lily to school had been one that had struck him the hardest. Not because there were so many people or that they learned things that he didn't understand, but because he saw how badly treated his host was. He didn't understand it since the two and a half says he had known her (being that he had come to the world in time for the weekend) he'd only seen a shy, but very kind person.

He had stepped in after a girl with too much makeup on had shoved Lily, nearly knocking her down the stairs and would have fallen had he not put his arm out in time. This had been the first and last incident of the day as Lily ran home cry after the same girl grabbed her wrist and revealed to him the scars of a past failure to end her own life.

For some reason he had felt such anger directed at the bratty girl that he had slapped her across the face, leaving a clear imprint of his hand, before running after Lily. He was quick to catch up to her and somehow calmed the distressed girl down.

After that Lily seemed to have opened a bit more up to the bandit leader and he in turn told her of his past adventure concerning the Suzaku no miko and the other seshi's. He felt strangely relaxed around the girl despite the fact that he hated women more often than not.

As for Lily's destroyed art project, she had to make another one before the end of the semester and work on the project currently in progress in the class. It was something Tasuki thought would have distressed the poor girl with all her other class's work on her too, but it didn't seem to bother her. He soon found out why.

During one of her art class's she had boldly asked him to 'pose' so she could sketch him to make up the lost project. After a curious look he got into the position she wanted him to be in; sitting on the art stool with his elbows on the table right behind him, feet kicked up and crossed on the table in front of him and head positions slightly upward.

In the forty-five minute class she had him from head to toe in the exact position with great precision. It was the one thing her teacher was quick to say about her, 'She was a quick and dedicated worker.'

Two hours a day was spent after school working on finalizing the drawing that would became a painting. Tasuki had no objection to the schedule as he had nothing else to do and he found her work rather interesting. Besides, he got to paint!

The fist experience had been a rather odd one and Lily had tried to hide her laughter, but that eventually failed horribly. He had somehow managed to get paint all over his hands, parts of his face and even some in his hair.

It was from that point that she had to turn and do a quick lessen on how to use a paintbrush properly and had put out a variety of objects for a still life for him to practice with. She had offered him a pencil, but he seemed to rather enjoy the painting aspect and she was not one to argue.

Cathy had come in on them many times taking pictures with her camera for both the year book and for her photography class. But one day had led to yet another odd experience for both Lily and Tasuki.

"I need an action picture," Cathy said as she stood before them, one hand holding her camera and the other on her hip. She had short blond hair in a ponytail and blue eyes.

Lily looked over from her painting, "What do you mean?"

"Can you and Genrou do something for me to take a picture of?" Cathy asked. The two girls had taken to calling the bandit leader by his birth name.

"Nani?" Tasuki looked up to Cathy from where he sat, painting, with a bewildered look.

Cathy smiled, "Just grab her around the waist and swing her around. I think that'll make for a good picture."

Lily dropped her brush in surprise and slight horror. She quickly put her pallet full of paint down on the table and cleaned up her mess.

"Oh come on you two," Cathy asked as she frowned, "It's not like I'm asking you to kiss or something."

"Cathy!" Lily shrieked from the floor. Her friend seemed to like teasing her on the fact that she was letting a 'cute boy' stay in her house. Lily of course was not amused by the teasing as she thought nothing of the sort about him.

Cathy of course took note of the shriek and the bewildered look on Tasuki's face, as well as the slight bit of color playing on his cheeks. "Come on then."

Lily groaned, knowing her friend wouldn't let up and came around the table. Cathy smiled to herself, "Now you two have to at least pretend you're enjoying yourselves or the over all affect will be ruined and well have to do it again.

Both Lily and Tasuki nodded. Amazingly there needed to be only one trial as the two getting their picture taken erupted into laughter before the first swing was completed. Though in that one trial Cathy had to have taken around ten pictures

Cathy thanked them and ran off to the lab to develop her pictures, a smirk on her face. Lily striated her cloths out and returned to her painting without looking at the redhead. He too returned to his painting, which looked very little like what he was attempting to paint, without a glance or word.

The painting ended up being finished in two weeks of constant hard work and many unpleased glances from her before she 'attacked' it (fixed it). She had to admit that the painting had been finished much faster than she had anticipated, but she secretly knew it was because her harassers had steered clear of her after their first occurrence with the bandit leader.

Needless to say Tasuki was blown away from the painting and finally understood why she had asked him for descriptions of his hideout, friend Kouji, miko and fellow seshi's. The painting had him in the same position he had modeled in, but now he sat on a bench with his feet kicked up on a banister, looking up at the stars with a faint smile. The stars outlined the six faces of his fellow seshi's and his miko while the moon had a faint dragon curled around it and a faint phoenix in the orb that was the moon itself, its mighty wings outstretched. An exact replica of Kouji stood with his arms resting on the banister, looking up at the stars with a passive face. Half of the background showed the training grounds for the bandits and the other half showed one side of the building with the balcony he and Kouji were painted on. The door to the dinning area was open and bandits could be seen drinking as they chatted and laughed away.

"Wow," was all Tasuki could say after seeing it. He had neglected to see much of it during its progress as he had been too involved in his own paintings.

While she could not give him the painting itself she graciously gave him the original finalized drawing. Tasuki of course took it happily, determined to show it to Kouji when he eventually got back home.

During the course of the week Tasuki had seen more than the inside of his host house and school. Lily had taken him around the area, walking of course, and he had become used to seeing the 'monsters' but that didn't mean he wasn't afraid of them.

At one point during the week, through Tasuki's curiosity, they had gotten into playing Twister and one can only guess how many times they fell on one another laughing. Cathy and her boyfriend, Matt, had gotten a kick out of the spectacle, but they did no better themselves.

But then the day came, two weeks after Tasuki's arrival, when Cathy tried to kill Lily with embarrassment in her own house when she cried, "Senior prom's this weekend!"

"Senior prom?" Tasuki asked in confusion.

"Ya!" Cathy exclaimed, "It's only one of the biggest events for seniors! Its one of the last times the senior class get together to enjoy themselves before graduation and friends are split up as they go off to different colleges."

"Oh," Tasuki said, not quite getting the idea.

"I'm not going," Lily said as she looked up from her math homework.

Cathy looked over to her, almost horror struck, "What do you mean you're not going?"

"Why should I?" Lily asked, "It's just one big fashion show."

"And the point is," Cathy said with her hands on her hips as she stood in front of her friend, "Besides, did you not hear me say that it was one of the last times we could have fun before college?"

Lily looked down at her homework, slightly saddened. Cathy sighed and crossed her arms, "You and Genrou are going and that's final."

Tasuki nearly spit out the water he had been drinking, "How'd I get pulled into this!"

Cathy looked to him, "Well it wouldn't be right for her to go without someone when I'm going with Matt now is it? She'd be bored, not to mention open for the jerks attacks."

Matt nodded from where he sat, "I agree." He had reddish-brown hair, green eyes and presently a smug grin adorning his face.

"But-" Lily began, but was cut off by Cathy.

"No buts. Tomorrow, being theirs no school for conferences, we're going to get you a dress."

Lily just wanted to die right there. Not only had she just embarrassed her, but even Tasuki, who also looked slightly taken aback by her friends strait out demand and not allowing him any leeway in the matter.

Lily got the strange idea that Cathy thought she and Tasuki were together, especially after finding them in a rather embarrassing moment two days ago; they had watched a move late into the night and had fallen asleep only to find that by morning they were somehow in one another's arms. Cathy, having a key to the house and being that it was the weekend, came in and found them still asleep. They two had awoken to her intense laughter.

They both had shot up from the couch blushing furiously, Lily muttering something about getting breakfast ready and Tasuki muttering something about having a shower. This of course made the hysterically laughing girl fall to the ground laughing even harder.

Lily groaned to herself and hid her blushed face at the thought of it. She just couldn't get Cathy to forget about it.

* * *

So we saw a few problems, the beginnings of a relationship (kinds, sorta… maybe. Lol) and were left off with the idea of prom. How's that going to work out? 

Tasuki's in Lily's world for a very good reason so please don't think I'm just being random or using it as a stuffer of sorts. In a few chapters this reasoning will be explained. Plus, we'll be out of this world soon.

Please review.

Thanks!


	3. Chapter 3

I don't own Fushigi Yuugi

Thank you _Chichiri's Wandere__r_, _Chrissy C_ and _Lovebuggy_

Oops. Hehehe. I always thought Genrou was his births name, as I never looked it up and I don't remember it being mentioned in the anime. Sorry. I only really know Chichiri's rightful name, but that because for an entire episode in the OVA's its spoken. Lol. You know what too, I've been on this site for just about two years and I still don't know the proper definition for a Mary-Sue -;; I've kind of got an idea from reading fics that say the character is like that, but …. Ya. I know I'm sad….

I'm glad people can associate with Lily :) That always helps a story I believe.

OK, I lied last chapter. This chapter is also an overlay ((damn it. I hadn't wanted it to be)), but this one's shorter and I promise it's dropped after this! Why can I say that? You'll find out by the end, no need to spoil it.

Hope you like it.

* * *

**Chapter 3**

Cathy kept her word and the next day she came and got Lily to go shopping for the right dress, leaving Tasuki and Matt to do what ever guys do.

After several hours of searching and taking into consideration of what Tasuki would be wearing, which was the same magenta outfit he had arrived in, they finally found the dress. Cathy squealed in delight and made Lily buy it on right away before any second thoughts could arise.

vvvv

Senior prom rolled around quickly. Cathy stood in front of the mirror in Lily's bathroom applying her lipstick with smile. She wore her dress that went from a dark shade of blue at the top down a light blue at the bottom. It was form fitting and made her look elegant, especially with her hairdo and light layer of makeup.

Lily walked in a moment later, bushing her hair behind her shoulders. She looked frightened, "Do you think this really looks nice on me?"

Cathy put down her lipstick and looked over to her friend with a smile, "Most definitely. In fact you look absolutely marvelous!"

Lily blushed slightly and nodded modestly. Her dress was of the oriental style with a beautiful red with a golden phoenix flying diagonally on it (its tail on the back and the body with its wings extended on front). Her hair was done up simply with part of it in a pony tail, but most of it was laying flat on her back. A very faint amount of makeup lay on her face from when Cathy had done it an hour ago.

"Let's head down stairs," Cathy said with a smile. The two boys were down their waiting patiently as they made small chatter. Her heels made light clicking noises on the tiled bathroom floor and Lily followed much quieter, being that she was in red slipper like shoes.

The two boys stood up from the sofa as they saw the girl's descending. Matt let out a low whistle, "Look at our lovely ladies. You two are looking as marvelous as ever."

Cathy laughed and Lily blushed at the complement. "Are you saying all the time spent on finding the dresses and getting ready was for nothing since we look no better?" Cathy asked with a smile.

Matt chuckled, "Here I am giving you two a complement and I get a wise crack."

Upon noticing Tasuki's astonished gaze on her Lily blushed even deeper than before and looked down. Cathy let out a small laugh, "One thing I must say about oriental dresses, they're form fitting to every degree."

Tasuki snapped out of his state upon Matt elbowing him lightly in the ribs while asking, "She looks good, no?"

"Beyond so," Tasuki said with a smile.

Lily blushed even harder, evoking the teasing of her friend, "If you don't stop blushing you'll be as red as your dress."

At the honking outside they were alerted that the limo had arrived and headed out. Tasuki had been weary of riding in one of the things he deemed as a monster, but he had let all worry disappear as Lily climbed in before him.

Prom turned out to be loads of fun for all four of them as they danced, Lily and Tasuki being nervous at first, and had their pictures taken.

It was no surprise when the most popular couple in school got the title of prom king and queen. However it was a huge surprise when the best dressed couple turned out to be Lily and Tasuki. That had to have been the highlight of the night, even if some of the preps with far too much make up on scowled and glared at them.

The night went by quickly however and soon everyone was departing. They weren't far from the beach, but they decided against going there, knowing all too well what some couples did there after prom. Instead they all went to Lily's house and sat down to watch a good movie, after the girls had changed of course.

By the time half the movie was over all four of them were asleep. Matt and Cathy lay comfortably in each others arms while Lily had her head on Tasuki's shoulder and he had an arm round her waist. However by the time morning came about they had somehow ended up in one another's arms again.

vvvv

Finals had stuck up on the group and they spent several nights cramming as they couldn't afford failing any of them. Most of their exams were in class however, so they only had to go in once during the week and a half final block.

During their free days the four of them went to the beach and Lily taught Tasuki to swim, which was a bit difficult since the bandit kept thinking he'd drown. After several days, getting a nice tan in the process, Tasuki had the basics down and could go out to where he couldn't stand.

Graduation came quickly after that and Cathy and Lily hugged each other crying as they said things like, "I don't want to leave high school yet."

Matt and Tasuki looked at each other before trying to calm the girls down. The walk across the stage a few short hours later was brutal for the three graduating as they felt the safeties of their childhoods being left behind and knew that they would all part their own ways for college soon enough. They were leaving everything they had known for so long behind as they accepted their diploma and shook the head principles hand. As they step of the stage and onto the ground who they would become was began its construction.

The four of them went to the farewell party at the school for a short time before leaving to dine at a nice restaurant. The night was filled with memories of from elementary school all the way through high school and much laughter. Tasuki was listen in, intrigued by what he was hearing and laughed with the others as they told of something ridiculous they had done in their 'younger days.'

The next day was no where near as pleasant with the events that occurred before noon. Tasuki and Lily had been chatting away as they got ready to go for a walk when it all happened.

The bandit leader began to glow red and he looked down at his hands in horror. Lily ran up to him frightened, "What's going on?"

"I'm-I'm fading," Tasuki murmured.

Lily immediately knew he meant he was going back to his own world and wrapped her arms around him tightly, "Don't go!" Tears streamed down her face, "Please don't go!" The entire time he had been there she knew she had changed, and for the better. He had helped her in so many ways and become one of her dearest friends. She just couldn't bear to loose him now!

"Lily…" he could say do more as he disappeared completely.

* * *

Next chapter we're officially out of this world and rid of stupid overlays! YEY! Lol. 

Hoped you liked it.

Please review

Thanks.


	4. Chapter 4

I don't own Fushigi Yuugi

Thanks for reviewing _Chrissy C_ (thanks you for that info and I'm afraid Cathy and Matt are out of it, at least for a long while), _Chichiri's Wanderer_(lol, I guess it does seem like that), and _Pil-Z_ (well they had to become good friends, they're nothing else yet however. Sorry for spelling errors, I try to catch them when I re-read it).

* * *

**Chapter 4**

Tasuki sighed and stepped outside the bandit hideout that he was the leader of, gaze lost within the semi clouded sky. It had been six months since he had returned to his world and found out he'd been gone a month, which had, oddly enough, been the same amount of time he had been in the other world.

He could still feel the tight, warm, grasp Lily had held on him just before he returned and it seemed that no matter what he did he could not rid himself of it, or the thought of her for that matter.

He was alerted to another presence as a hand gripped his shoulder. He turned to find a man with a tanned complexion, his light brownish-gray eyes looking at him with slight concern, a scar on his left cheek and a golden circlet around his forehead.

"Hey Kouji," Tasuki greeted with a sigh as he turned his gaze back to the sky.

"You alright man?" Kouji asked his long time friend. "You've seemed distracted since you got back from wherever six months ago."

Tasuki closed his eyes and stepped away from his friend's hand, "I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

Kouji watched him walk off into the woods around the hideout like he did almost every day. Tasuki had once been out at dawn to help train the bandits that followed him, but ever since he'd gotten back he'd seemed different and he refused to speak of where he'd been.

With a shake of his head he turned and headed off to the training grounds to make sure the bandits were doing what they were supposed to. It wasn't long after arriving that a tall and broad bandit carried a girl kicking and screaming over his shoulder onto the grounds.

"What's this?" Kouji asked in surprise.

"Found 'er in the forest wanderin' 'bout," the bandit said in his deep voice, "Dressed weird this one is." With that said he dropped the girl onto the ground.

The girl groaned and looked up with fright at the two bandits. Kouji didn't know it yet, but the girl before him was the same girl that had been on his friends mind for months. The cloths that the other bandit had referred to as odd consisted of black jeans and plain blue sweater that was semi form fitting.

Lily didn't recognize Kouji even though she has drawn and painted him, but that was due to fright and the fact that she had never met him in person before. Kouji hefted her to her feet and looked her up and down in curiosity, but she took it as something else and boldly kicked the bandit in the shin.

Kouji yelped and held his assaulted shin as he hopped about. The bandit that had held her before grabbed her arm roughly, causing her to flinch and whimper as he put pressure on it. Kouji put his leg down rubbed it with one eye closed, the other eye laying on the whimpering female.

"Got a lot of spunk don't you," he said with a chuckle before standing up strait. "Let her go," he commanded the bandit holding her.

The bandit acknowledged and let the girl go, but kept a weary eye on her. Lily held the assaulted area of her upper arm carefully with her other hand and took several steps away from him.

Kouji sighed and dismissed the other bandit before saying, "What am I going to do with you? You can't stay here, but I can't send you trekking through the woods alone either." He frowned as he saw her head bow low, lips trembling from the pain of her arm as her hand stayed resting on the injured area. "Let me see that."

Lily's head shot up and she took several frightened steps away from him. Kouji stopped in his tracks, "I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to see if it's broken."

"It's not broken," Lily murmured.

Kouji took her hand gently, "Just let me have a look." Lily tried to get away, but his grip was firm, yet gentle. Before he could do anything else he was smacked with something metallic. He shot his hands to the top of his head and yelled, "What the hell was that for Genrou?"

Tasuki stood beside him looking enraged, tessen in hand. "What do you think you're doin' to 'er!"

"I was goin' to see if her arm was broken!" he yelled back.

Tasuki's face went from angered to concerned, "Arm broken?"

"Ya," Kouji said as he rubbed his throbbing head, "Geeze that hurt."

"What happened?" Tasuki asked, shoving Kouji's comment to the side as he looked to a teary eyes Lily.

"One of the bandit's grabbed her a bit too hard after she kicked me," he explained.

"Who?" Tasuki asked as his eyes narrowed.

"Ba," Kouji stopped as he saw the girl jump onto his friend and wrap her uninjured arm around him, crying.

Tasuki dropped his tessen and wrapped his arm around the girl protectively. He stroked her hair, hoping to calm the frightened girl. It had been so long since he had last seen her and despite the occurrence he could not deny the joy he felt to once again to be able to do both. Yet he still felt his spirits plunge as she continued to cry into his chest.

"Genrou?" Kouji asked in pure confusion. He thought his friend hated all females, except for the Suzaku no miko, but that was another story. Kouji was not the only one bewildered by the occurrence however; all the bandits on the training grounds were looking at one another asking who the girl was and how she knew their leader.

Tasuki had eventually calmed the girl enough to get her to walk inside with him, Kouji close on his heels with his tessen in hand. He led her to the medical room and made her sit on the bed before asking her to take off the sweater.

With a bit of help from Tasuki the sweater was pulled off, revealing a green tank top beneath. He and Kouji made a face at the horrible bruise beginning to take form. "How hard did the moron grab her!" Tasuki cried before gingerly running his fingers over the area, earning a small whimper from Lily.

Kouji got a bowl of cold water, a cloth and something to wrap the area up in. "Thanks," Tasuki said as he placed the cloth, now wet, around Lily's arm. "You'll be fine Lil," he told her with a faint smile as he brushed a few stray hairs from her face.

A few moments later the cloth was removed and the bandage was wrapped around it to keep the swelling down. Tasuki helped her to her feet and Kouji came in front of her, "Sorry about earlier," he began, "I don't think we were ever introduced. I'm Kouji."

Lily looked up at him completely surprised before giving a bow, "I'm so sorry for kicking you."

It was Kouji's turn to be surprised, "You were the one hurt and you're apologizing to me?"

"That's jus' the way she is," Tasuki said with a chuckled and ruffled the girls' hair, "'aven't changed much have ya? But by the sounds of it you got a bit bolder if ya kicked Kouji."

Lily blushed slightly and looked down, causing Tasuki to chuckle even more. "Well, you're welcome to stay 'ere until you're sent back to your world."

"Thank you," Lily said as she looked up to him with a faint smile, "Especially after all the trouble I've already caused."

Tasuki brushed the comment to the side, "You've done nothin' we bandit's aren't used to."

"Um," Kouji began in confusion, "Her world?"

Tasuki nodded, "That's where I was six months ago. She took care of me there, I'm extending' favor now that she's here."

"Oh," Kouji said, still slightly confused. 'Is she the reason he's been distracted?' he asked himself as he watched the two of them leave the room.

* * *

Kouji got kicked and smacked with a tessen in less than ten minutes, poor guy. Lol. And poor Lily, she had a pretty rough first hour in the world of FY. 

No one despair for Chichiri is soon to appear (lol that rhymed). He's in the next chapter! With a rather amusing scene might I add.

Please review!

Thanks


	5. Chapter 5

I don't own FY.

Thanks for reviewing _Chichiri's Wanderer__Pil-Z_ and _LoneGunGirl88_.

Sorry for the late update! I've been busy and so haven't had the time to re-read this chapter for error until today. Sorry again!

* * *

**Chapter 5**

Lily had been at the bandit camp near a week and she had taken to the place rather well, besides for the fact that she was the only female amongst dozens of men. She was safe none the less, as Tasuki had threatened to slaughter any man that so much as laid a hand on her. That went for anyone beside himself and Kouji that is.

Her bedroom was down the hall from Tasuki's (being his room was meant for the privacy of any given bandit leader and so was a positioned away from the others) and across from Kouji's. This was done so that if she ever needed anything one of them would most likely be around to help her out.

She was currently walking through the woods very close to the hideout and was deep within her own thoughts when she got frightened to the point she was sure her heart was going to stop, but somehow screamed at the top of her lungs instead.

A blue haired male with a staff had appeared out of nowhere and landed right in front of her. He stood and waved his arms about, clearly caught off guard by her screaming, "I'm sorry no da!"

Tasuki and Kouji burst into the area looking ready to kill something, but upon seeing the male in his antics and Lily sitting on the ground fearfully they sighed. "It's just you Chichiri," Tasuki said in relief as he walked over to Lily.

"Here we were thinking she was getting attacked," Kouji said as he shook his head, but was clearly relieved that she had only been frightened by the monk, who was a Suzaku seshi and friend of Tasuki's.

"It's alright Lily," Tasuki told her as he helped her up, "He won't hurt you."

"Sorry for startling you no da," Chichiri told her apologetically. He currently wore his mask, so his real eyes, or rather his scar and one eye, were hidden from view.

They all went back to the dining hall and Tasuki explained to the monk who and where Lily was from. Chichiri was both intrigued and puzzled by the news. "I'll have to ask Taiitsukun about this no da. But it can wait until tomorrow."

Tasuki nodded, "The room you usually use is still there for ya."

Chichiri nodded to him, "Arigato no da." Tasuki merely nodded again in response.

vvvv

The monk kept to his word and left after breakfast the next morning. He would not return to two days.

Tasuki looked to his friend Kouji for a moment before asking, "Would you mind runnin' to town for somethin'?"

Kouji looked at him curiously, "Why?"

"I think Lily should be wearin' something besides what she came in and the cloths we found for her here."

Kouji smirked, "You want a present for your girlfriend?"

Tasuki glared at his friend and was thankful Lily wasn't with them at the moment. With another laugh Kouji was off to do what his friend had asked of him.

"Where's Kouji going?" Lily asked as she appeared at his side, startling the bandit leader slightly.

The look off annoyance quickly disappeared as he looked to her, "To do something I asked him to."

"Which is?"

"Don' worry 'bout it," he told her before grinning. "How 'bout we continue that lesson from yesterday?"

Lily smiled and nodded, "Sure."

Tasuki had been teaching her how to use a sword after explaining that there were many dangers in his world that required a weapon of some sorts to defend oneself against. She had agreed and had been learning diligently since her arm had healed enough to not pain her when she moved it, which had been four days later after it was bruised.

She had been surprised that the bandit leader knew how to use a sword since he always carried his tessen. He had laughed at the question when she had asked it and told her he had originally started out learning how to wield one before getting around to the tessen.

Kouji returned a few hours later with a bag over one shoulder. He tossed the bag to Lily after finding her and Tasuki in the dinning area.

Lily gave him a questioning look as she caught it but before she could ask he chuckled, "You pawned it off of me an' Genrou. Enjoy." With that he walked off.

Lily was confused, but opened the bag to find an assortment of cloths.

Tasuki ruffled her hair, "Figured you wanted cloths more suited for you and not a bandit."

Lily smiled and gave him a hug, "Thank you."

"Welcome," he laughed and gave her a quick hug back with one arm.

vvvv

When Chichiri returned he looked a little concerned and revealed why upon having a private discussion with Tasuki. "Taiitsukun doesn't know why Lily was brought here no da."

"And is that such a bad thing?" Tasuki asked, not quiet understanding his friends concern.

"She couldn't reach to gods to ask," the monk further explained, becoming serious as he took off his mask. "Even Taiitsukun is concerned with that."

Tasuki nodded as he finally understood, "Could they have just been busy or somethin'?"

"Highly doubted," Chichiri said as he glanced out the window to see Kouji helping Lily with her swords play.

Tasuki followed his friends glance, "Lily is no miko. I don't think she has anything to do with this." It was clear in his voice that he was worried what might happen if he was wrong.

"That's a possibility," Chichiri said, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. "Taiitsukun said she would contact me if she found out anything. For now we just have to wait."

A silence fell upon them for several moments until Tasuki spoke up. "Was it just Suzaku she tried to reach?"

"I'm not sure, she did not offer that information," Chichiri said as he put his mask back on. "But let's not worry Lily over it no da."

Tasuki nodded watched as Lily's wooden sword was knocked from her hands before sighing, "She got to get a better grip on that thing."

"Nani no da?" Chichiri asked from the door.

Tasuki looked up slightly surprised as he had forgot Chichiri was still in the room. "The sword. She's got down several moves, but her grip isn't strong enough to prevent it from getting knocked away after a while."

Chichiri nodded, "She is a novice no da. She's learning really fast from what I can tell no da."

With a nod Tasuki gave his silent agreement.

vvvv

Lily smiled to herself and stretched as the warm water of the hot spring greeted her. She wore her undergarments even though she counted this as a bath as she wasn't comfortable stripping down completely when she was in a hideout were only males were. So the effect was more or less like a cleansing swim as the garments made her feel like she was simply wearing a swim suit.

Her mind wandered to her world and wondered if anyone had realized she was gone and were missing her. With a sigh she sank a bit deeper into the water. 'Doubt it,' she mused.

A twig snapping brought her attention to behind her where she found Tasuki and Kouji walking into the area. Upon seeing her they blushed and turned about saying a loud, "Sorry!"

"Genrou…" Lily said softly.

"Ya?" He asked with his back turned.

She smiled, "You're a jerk."

He stiffened at her words, "I said I was sorry!" At hearing her laugh he forgot about where they were and turned to see her now standing. He blushed harder than before at the quick remembrance of where he was and turned back around.

"Come on Genrou," Kouji said as he took as step away from the spring, back still to it, "We'll just come back later."

"Guys I'm not nude," Lily said with a laugh before realizing that the statement was a very bold one for her.

Both Kouji and Tasuki turned at this statement, but color still flushed to their faces as they saw how little clothing she was wearing none the less.

"It's like a swim," Lily said faintly.

Tasuki raised a brow, "You giving an invite then?"

"So long as you keep your parts to yourself," She blushed greatly at the even bolder statement and looked away until Tasuki laughed.

"You've definitely gotten bolder."

"I think ya rubbed off on her Genrou," Kouji said with a laugh.

The two of them took off everything but their pants and slipped into the water. "You're right. This feels more like a swim than a bath," Tasuki laughed.

"How would you know Genrou?" Kouji asked, "You can't swim."

"Can too," he said in defense.

"Since when?" Kouji asked.

"Since I got back from Lily's world," he splashed a bit of water at the one he was talking about, "Right?"

Lily laughed and slashed a bit of water back at him, "Yes, after you kept complaining you'd drown."

"Hey!" Tasuki half cried in mock insulted fashion and splashed her back.

A full fledged water war broke out between the three in the spring, Kouji getting involved when Lily accidentally splashed him. A loud cry of "DAA!" brought them out of the water war as the maker of the noise jumped in the middle of the three, getting them all wet.

Chichiri appeared at the surface a moment later in 'super deformed mode.' Lily laughed at him, "You look like a little kid, so cute."

Tasuki made a face at the chibi monk and shoved him under the water head first. Chichiri came to the surface, turned back to normal and tackled the bandit leader with a laugh. The two of them went under that time, Tasuki going with a yelp of surprise.

When they came to the surface Tasuki coughed up a bit of water and Chichiri moved to the edge where he removed his shirt and shoes, throwing them to where his kesa was, saying they were weighing him down. He also removed his mask, which was almost completely off his face from roughhousing in the water.

To the monks surprise Lily didn't seem disturbed by his scar. She had giving him a curious look at first, but upon seeing his gaze fall on her she raised her wrists out of the water to show why she wasn't disturbed. He was taken slightly aback as he realized just what the scars on her were from, but didn't show it outwardly.

The four of them goofed around in the spring for some time before they decided it would be best to head back and get some rest.

* * *

Quick! Get a tissue you're drooling! Lol. Three cute male characters all topless and, for any male readers, one girl in her under garments playing around in a spring :)

So what did you think?

Next chapter is… interesting to say the least. And foreshadows what this entire tale is about.

Please review

Thanks!


	6. Chapter 6

I don't own Fushigi Yuugi

Thanks for reviewing _Chichiri's Wanderer_ (Yey to half naked bishi's! and for your question, all will be revealed in due time) and_LoneGunGirl88_ (they are aren't they. Lol. Glad you liked it).

* * *

Chapter 6

It was a dull night compared to the last in Lily's mind. Nothing was really going on and she just sat at the table in the dining hall half listening to Kouji and Tasuki talk to one another. Chichiri seemed to be in the same state as her, but with his mask on she couldn't tell for sure.

She was startled when Tasuki gave her a slap on the back, not because it hurt, but because she hadn't expected it. "Why don' you tell a story?"

"What?" she asked in confusion.

"You're not the only one bored ya know," he laughed.

She frowned, "Why don't you tell one then?"

"Are you kidding?" Tasuki asked, "I'm not a story teller."

"And I am?" she asked with a raised brow.

Tasuki chuckled, "You are now. 'sides your world has a bunch of different tales to tell."

Chichiri looked up from his mug of water, "Sounds like a good idea to me no da."

Tasuki told everyone in the dinning all to be quiet because a story was going to be told. Color rushed to Lily's face as the eyes of two dozen bandits fell onto her and she wished she could run and hide. After a moment of panicked thought the first story that came to mind was a childish one, but she couldn't think of anything else so decided to tell it.

The story ended up being the one known as 'Peter Pan' and much to her relief every one seemed interested. As she told it other bandits came in and were quickly told to be quiet as they all listened intently about the world known as Neverland, a place where children can remain forever young and were led by a brave boy named Peter Pan.

She got so into telling the story that she forgot about her embarrassment and jumped onto the table to act part out. Kouji smirked when he heard that Wendy, one of the characters, was the 'mother' and story teller of the Lost Boys, the group Peter Pan was the leader of. No one seemed to notice him though.

She went on to tell about Captain Hook's (Peter Pans foe) greatest fear; a crocodile that had a strange object ticking in its belly. Lily of course knew what the object was, but she knew the bandit's did not, so left that information out. They laughed when they heard that he would scream like a girl whenever he heard the ticking of the crocodile and how he would try to run and hide from it.

Lily acted out the fight that Peter had with Hook and had fun switching between characters as she did the different parts. The bandits waited on baited breath when they heard that Wendy had to walk the plank, but laughed when they heard Peter had been hiding out of view and had caught her.

Soon the tale was finished and she sat back down next to Tasuki, exhausted from her antics. The bandits cheered and told her how great the tale was. Kouji got up walked over to her and Tasuki.

"So Wendy was the 'mother' and story teller to the group of boys and Peter was the 'father'?"

Lily nodded, "Yes."

Kouji grinned and wrapped one arm around her shoulders and the other around Tasuki's, "Hello mother and father."

Lily blushed slightly and Tasuki pushed him away with a chuckle. They both knew why he had said it and it made sense. Tasuki was like Peter as he was the leader of the bandits, all of which were men and could be compared to the Lost Boys, and Lily was the only female among them, like Wendy had been, and she had just told a story.

vvvvv

The next day Lily and Tasuki had been walking some ways away from bandit hideout when the sky decided to open up and pour is cold captives down upon them. It had been like any other rain fall for a few short moments before it became a downpour, making it hard to see.

Tasuki grabbed Lily and ran under a large tree, getting away from most of the rain. However by then they were both soaked to the bone and Lily was beginning to shiver because of it. He held her close trying in a vane attempt to keep her warm.

When the rain gave up slightly Tasuki figure that it was now or never to head back, knowing the rain would only worse again in a short while. As he took Lily's hand he was surprised at how cold they had gotten and knew he had to get her somewhere warm and dry quickly.

"Come on Lily," he said as he gave a gentle tug in her hand. She nodded and ran with him, hand still in his.

Lily felt so cold that some parts, such as her hands, were beginning to go numb. Never had she felt so cold and she had been out in blizzards shoveling snow when the temperatures had been in the single digits before.

She scarcely felt her feet trip over one another, but knew she was falling none the less. Tasuki whipped around and caught her in time to keep her from landing in the mud, which he did land in however, but he was too worried over her to even take notice of the mud leeching into his cloths.

She was shivering madly and after putting a hand to her forehead knew she already had a high fever. He mentally cursed and picked her up, running the rest of the way to the hideout with her in his arms.

Kouji was at the door as he burst through it, worry evident on his face after one look at Lily. Tasuki took down the hall to his chambers, slammed to doors open and ran in.

On normal occasion he wouldn't even think of doing what he was about to, but he knew that this was no normal occasion and if he didn't get her out of her soaking wet cloths she would not survive the night. So without a second thought he lay her on the bed and ripped all her cloths off before placing her under the covers of his bed, adding another two blankets from the dresser a moment later.

Chichiri quickly came into the room at that moment and went directly to Lily. "She burning up no da," he said in worry after feeling her forehead.

"I know," Tasuki replied as he ripped off his wet shirt and threw it to the ground. Chichiri kept his gaze on the feverish girl before him as Tasuki quickly changed in to dry cloths.

Kouji took that moment to enter with two mugs of warm herbal water. Tasuki was directed to drink his while Chichiri got the semi conscious girl lying in bed to drink some of the substance in the other mug.

Upon feeling she had drunk enough Chichiri handed the mug back to Kouji. "She'll be alright no da," he told them with relief as he took off his mask, "If she had stayed out there any longer I fear she wouldn't have made it."

Tasuki sighed and sat on the edge of the bed, rubbing the girls' leg through the layer of sheets, hoping to warm her even a little. "I'm such an idiot," he muttered, "I could tell it was going to rain and I still took her out there."

"You had no way of knowing it would be this bad," Chichiri told him.

"Or this cold," Kouji added. "I'm surprised its rain and not ice."

"It normally never gets this cold here in Konan," Chichiri said slightly worried. "I must consult Taiitsukun about this."

"You think this has something to do with the fact she can't reach the gods?" Tasuki asked as he looked to the now standing monk.

"Hai," Chichiri said with a nod.

"Damn," Tasuki muttered, "I hope we're wrong."

"I agree," Chichiri said with a glance to Lily. "For now you two should rest." When Tasuki made to get up he amended his statement, "In the same bed."

"What?" Tasuki asked, taken completely off guard by the statement.

"I'm guessing this has something to do with both of you being out in the weather," Kouji said as he looked from his friend to Chichiri.

"Hai," Chichiri said. "Both of you need to stay warm, but especially Lily. You are stronger against such elements since you are a seshi, but she is not and unnecessary risks on her life are not needed to be taken."

Tasuki looked to Lily and put a hand on to her cheek. Her skin felt cold, yet feverishly warm at the same time. "Alright," he said softly.

Chichiri nodded and turned to leave, "I'll be back as soon as possible. I hope Taiitsukun has found something out." With that he put on his mask and stepped out of the room with Kouji right behind him.

"I'll make sure you guys aren't disturbed," Kouji told him before he shut the door and walked down the hall.

"Oi," Tasuki mumbled softly as he took off his shirt and climbing into bed. "I just hope you can forgive me for this Lil." He carefully shifted her so that her chest was against his, knowing that the position would offer more heat to her very chilled body. He shivered when their skin touched, knowing how wrong, but necessary, it all was.

"Suzaku forgive me," he mumbled before falling asleep with the chilled girl in his protective embrace.

* * *

So we go from happy story telling to hypothermia. Ouch. So how's Lily going to react to sleeping with Tasuki?

Find out in the next chapter.

Please review.

Thanks!


	7. Chapter 7

I don't own Fushigi Yuugi

Forgive the late update, its been spring break for me (last day is today in fact) and I've been feeling really lazy. Lol. I haven't even touched my homework… I should go do that… oh well it can wait until I'm done updating everything.

Thanks for reviewing:

**_Chichiri's Wanderer_** – Lol. I think you'd enjoy that a bit _too_ much XD Yep and we haven't seen anything yet! The cause of all the trouble hasn't even been reveled yet, that'll happen shortly (too lazy to go count the chapters. Lol.)

**_Crimson Firefox_** – Thank you. I'm glad the detail is being enjoyed :) I'm watching myself with it though because I've read actual novels were I've been bored to death because of too much detail (like Lord of the Rings XP)

**_Hitomi Zotz_** – Wooo, five reviews :) Lol. Well thanks and I'm glad you're enjoying it thus far :) I like to do as much original as I can. Lol. Kouji is one of my favorite characters in the anime, despite the fact we rarely see him XP Lily's parents are always away on business, I'm not sure if that's what clicked and I don't want you to get the wrong idea, it's my fault for barely mentioning it in chapter one. Sorry about that. Great minds really do think alike :)

**_NekoGuyFan_** – Lol. I hope that's not a literal statement. I don't want you to die in suspense… just suffer a bit XD Just kidding! There's no need to wait any longer though because the chapter is here :) Le woot XD

Oh and as a last note, so no one is surprised or something, this chapter is NOT an overview, but does cover a few days. That was just done so this chapter could be as long as it is (otherwise the material would have been separated into another chapter or two and would have been annoyingly short XP) and because anything that happens in-between the days would have bored you to death since nothing really happened. Lol.

So, without further delay, here's the chapter.

* * *

**Chapter 7**

Tasuki woke the next morning feeling warm, but it felt as if something wasn't right. With a soft groan he remembered parts of the events of what he assumed had been the day before. He figured he'd been out for twelve or so hours.

'Lily…' His eyes shot open as he remembered the detail of him sleeping with her now. How that particular detail had slipped his mind a moment ago he couldn't fathom. That's when he realized what had made him feel as if something wasn't right.

She wasn't there.

He shot into a sitting position and looked around his chambers frantically. She was no where to be seen however and her wet cloths still lay where he had thrown them the day before.

Without another moments thought he bolted out of bed and took off into the hallway. He headed down the hall yelling, "Kouji!"

As he rounded another corner he found Kouji poking his head out of the dining area curiously, "What's wrong with you? I could hear you from way back."

Tasuki grabbed his friend by the collar, "Do you know where Lil is?"

"Lily?" Kouji asked before pointing with his thumb into the dining area, "Just came in a few minutes ago."

Tasuki let his friend go and quickly entered the dining area to find Lily with her back to him as she quietly ate a bowl of soup. He quickly realized that all she was wearing was white shirt that went to about mid thigh. In fact it was one of _his_ shirts.

Kouji smacked him on the back with a laugh, "She comes in wearin' jus' that and you come in without one."

The bandit leader only half heard his friend as he walked the rest of the distance to Lily, who had yet to acknowledge his presence. He sat down next to her on the bench, "Lily?"

She put her spoon down and turned to him. No wonder she hadn't acknowledged him, she looked less than half awake and very dazed. It took her several moments to realize who it was before her and when she did she quickly turned back to her meal.

"Has anything happened to her since she awoke?" Tasuki asked as he brought his gaze to Kouji, who was taking a seat across from him.

"No," Kouji told him, "I saw her shortly after she exited your room and brought her here to get something to eat."

"Dressed like this?"

"She seemed worse at the time than she does now believe it or not and I couldn't get her to go back into the room," he sighed and rested his chin on his upright palm, "I didn't know what else to do with her."

Tasuki nodded, "Could you leave Kouji."

Kouji was slightly startled by the request, but quickly nodded and left Tasuki to whatever he had in mind.

"Lily," Tasuki said softly once Kouji was gone. When she did not acknowledge him he went on, "Look at me Lil."

Lily very hesitantly complied and he could see in her eyes what she thought had happened. He cupped her cheeks gently and looked her in the eyes, "I didn't do anything to you. I swear to Suzaku I didn't."

The girl looked at him, as if trying to tell if he was lying to her or not. "I swear on my seshi abilities I didn't do anything to you," Tasuki told her. "You were just so cold and Chichiri and I were worried for you. We slept and that is all."

She nodded after getting away from his gentle grasp. "I'm sorry," she said so faintly that he almost didn't hear it.

"What for?"

"I'm just one big problem."

"If anything I'm the problem here," he told her. "But anyways, look at you. Let's get you back to bed or at least dressed."

With a nod Lily got up after pushing the half empty bowl away from her. The two of them walked in silence to her bedroom where upon she disappeared into it to get dressed properly.

"You're awake no da," Chichiri said as he walked down the hall.

Tasuki to him slightly surprised, "Back already?"

He removed his mask, "Never left." Before the bandit could ask he explained, "Taiitsukun contacted me through a form of telepathy and told me not to waste my energy. Something is amiss and she doesn't want to alert the source to her dwelling."

"What is it?"

"She doesn't know yet. The gods are still out of reach and she'd getting bad readings whenever she tries. However she thinks one god is trying to get in reach with her."

"Suzaku?"

"I don't know. She gave me a very brief overview, but stressed that we travel there when Lily's back to health," with that he put on his mask and not a moment later Lily emerge from her bedroom still wearig the shirt, but a now she also wore a pair of dark blue pants with it.

"Morning no da," Chichiri greeted, "How do you feel?"

"Alright I suppose," she said softly. Chichiri gave a nod in response, but said nothing on her timid appearance.

Tasuki chuckled at her, "Like my shirt do ya?"

She looked down, "Do you want me to change?"

"Na, I don't really mind you wearing it," he told her as he gently ruffled her hair.

vvvvv

Within two days Lily's cold was completely gone and she was back to normal, or as normal as she usually was. That's when she found out about the trip to Taiitsukun that would begin the next day.

"What's the rush?" Lily asked in surprise from her seat in Tasuki's room.

"Somethin' strange is going on," Tasuki told her, "Taiitsukun just want to see if you're connected."

"Did I do something wrong?" Lily asked in concern and worry.

"Of course not no da," Chichiri told her, "But she thinks you're here for a reason."

Lily looked at him strangely, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Another words Taiitsukun thinks you're here for somethin' like what Miaka had to do," Tasuki explained, having a good idea of what was going on from talking with his fellow seshi.

"But without the miko part no da," Chichiri explained further. "This is my guess as Taiitsukun never really said no da."

Lily nodded, "How long will it take?"

"About a week no da," Chichiri said, "But that's if we can travel with haste."

"From the sounds of things we'll need to be fast," Lily said more to herself than the two seshi's.

"We'll travel by horseback," Tasuki told her. He frowned when he saw her face fall, "What's the matter?"

Lily looked up at him, slightly embarrassed, "I've never been on a horse before."

This did not seem to surprise the bandit leader however, as he remembered all the 'monsters' the people from her world used to get around. "You'll jus' ride with me."

With a nod she stood, "Well I guess I should got pack a few things for this trip." With a small wave she left the room while musing over what she had just heard and leaving the two seshi's to discuss things in private.

vvvv

Tasuki securely fastened Lily's bag to the rich brown horse both of them were going to use. He had been slightly surprised at how light the bag was when he had taken it from her.

"Just a few pairs of cloths," she told him with a small smile.

With a chuckle Tasuki said, "And here I was thinkin' ya were going to pack like Miaka."

"She did come here without warning no da," Chichiri said from where he stood by his soft brown horse. "Miaka came back on purpose, so she had time to gather things from her world no da."

"Forgot about that," Tasuki replied with a laugh.

They were brought from their chatter as Lily's name was called. She and Tasuki turned to find Kouji standing there with a sheathed sword in his hands. He gave her a smile and held the object out with one hand, letting it be parallel with the ground, "Figured you'd need this."

Lily instantly recognized it as Kouji's own sword and gave him a confused look, "But you'll need that."

Kouji shook his head, "Not nearly as bad as you. I can feel it. 'sides I'll just grab one from storage later."

"Why don't I take one of them then?"

"They're as dull as can be at the moment," Kouji said, "And a dull blade won't help any."

Tasuki smirked and let out a soft chuckle, "Ya won't win this battle Lil. Might as well take it."

Lily smiled softly, "I'm not 'pawning' this of you am I?"

Kouji laughed at her, knowing all to well why she had said it, "Ya can't pawn something' off me when I'm all too willing to give it to you as a gift."

With a slightly larger smile she took the blade, "Thank you Kouji. I'll take good care of it." With that she wrapped him into a hug, being careful to not to hit him with the object now in her hand.

Kouji returned the hug, "Take care out there."

vvvv

Lily yawned from her place on the saddle, which was in front of Tasuki. They had been traveling for two days and she was already used to being saddle soar since they traveled from dawn to dusk everyday, but that did not mean she liked it.

By now the sun was beginning to set and she knew they would be stopping for the night shortly. Needless to say, she was all too eager to get her feet on solid ground and stretch out her muscles for the first time in hours.

Just as predicted they stopped fifteen minutes later and began to make camp. Chichiri went off to the nearby stream to fish for supper and Tasuki went about making a fire while Lily went off to get enough wood for the night.

Soon enough the trio was sitting around the warm fire as it crackled in its dance. They ate their fish quietly, all deep in thoughts that only they knew. Lily hadn't taken much liking to the fish at first, as it had little to no flavor, but had quickly become used to it.

Lily was brought from her thoughts when Chichiri got up saying something about answering a call of nature and walked from view. Tasuki looked to her with a faint smile, "You've done well for a first timer on this kind a' travel."

"Thanks I guess," Lily said with a small laugh, not too sure if it was a general comment or a complement.

* * *

Poor Lily in the beginning, but she bounced back… after two days. And she's a shirt thief! Lol. Not really, but it's a funny thought.

So they're on their way to Mt. Taikyoku! So this mystery enemy must be reviled soon, right? I'm not saying!

Stay tuned… wait this isn't a television show… eh…. I feel randomly hyper XD

Please review.

Thank you!


	8. Chapter 8

I don't own Fushigi Yuugi.

Sorry for another late update. In two weeks the lateness should end... I hope. But hey, it's a thursday update... then again I'm not going to be home this weekend...

Thanks for reviewing **_Chichiri's Wanderer_**, **_Crimson Firefox_**, **_mtgranola_**, **_Silver Pain_** and **_Pil-Z_**. I'm glad you guys are enjoying it :) I hope you didn't think I was serious when I called Lily a shirt thief. Lol. I was really joking. And it's alright Pil-z. I've done that in the past too.

* * *

**Chapter 8**

"We'll be at Mt. Taikyoku shortly no da," Chichiri told Lily and Tasuki as he glanced over at them.

"Finally," Lily said with a sigh, "I was starting to think I'd be stuck on this horse forever."

Chichiri laughed, "You've done really well no da."

It was true. Lily had complained little about the travel and only made a comment every now and again at how she was either soar or going numb. She couldn't wait to get off the horse for more than the few hours that they slept.

It wasn't long before Chichiri dismounted. "We have to walk the rest of the way no da."

Tasuki dismounted and helped Lily off before untying their bags and setting the horse off to graze. "We'll get 'em when we come back down."

With a nod Lily put Kouji's sword around her waist and pulled her bag over shoulder to rest on her back.

"The path is a bit rocky no da," Chichiri warned as they set off up the mountain.

vvvvv

Lily sighed as she felt the throbbing in her sour legs push on her. She was not used to all this travel and it was really starting to affect her. "How much farther Chichiri?"

"Not much more no da," Chichiri told her without a glance behind him. He could tell the girl was tired and aching, but knew that the quicker they got to Taiitsukun the better. Plus he knew that his old master's hand maidens, if one could call them that, could take away her discomfort quickly and easily.

No sooner had he thought it did Taiitsukun appear suddenly as if right out of thin air. Tasuki stumbled and fell to the ground on his behind and Lily took a giant step back.

Taiitsukun was an old lady with long grey hair, an elegant gold ornament on top of her head, a kimono like green dress and a long pink ribbon like material floated all about her as if magic was holding it up.

Lily looked at Taiitsukun is disbelief. She had heard that she looked like a sand-witch from Tasuki, but he had neglected to say that she could float in the air as if gravity didn't exist. He had even neglected to say how wondrous the mountain on which she dwelled was.

Taiitsukun looked down at Lily with a small smile, "I've been wanting to meet you in person, child from another world."

"'er name's Lily," Tasuki told her with a look as he picked himself up and dusted the dirt of his cloths.

"I am well aware of that," Taiitsukun replied with a glance that sent shivers down the bandit's spine.

Lily took hold of his arms in slight fright, feeling the end of his shiver "You alright?" Tasuki silently nodded in reply.

"Well," Taiitsukun began as a magic carpet appeared under the three of them, "You might as well come in."

As they rode on the carpet Lily looked all around, taking in all the scenery with a look of awe. One arm was still looped around Tasuki's, but she had forgotten about it.

"Taiitsukun no da," Chichiri began, "Have you received any information no da?"

The flying woman nodded, "All will be revealed in due time Chichiri, but for now I must ask you and Tasuki to restrain from using your seshi abilities."

"What do ya mean restrain from usin' 'em?" Tasuki asked. "Weren't we given 'em to use?"

"Yes," Taiitsukun said, "But a new card has been played."

"What do you mean no da?" Chichiri asked, completely confused.

"As I said before all will be explained in due time," Taiitsukun said, "All of you are weary from travel and should rest before then."

By that time they had arrived at Taiitsukun's home, or rather her palace in Lily standards. The other worldly girl was amazed at the beauty of the place and allowed her eyes to dart all around as they drank in everything gleefully.

A high pitched young girl's voice brought Lily from her awed state, "Nyan-Nyan take you to rest and heal your aches."

The little girl named Nyan-Nyan had aqua hair in two buns with small braided ponytails coming out of the center and violet eyes displaying childish glee. She wore a cute pink and red outfit and a large smile.

With a quick glace to her right she saw that two other girl looking identical to the one before her ushering Tasuki and Chichiri down the hall. With a smile at the girl before her she followed the others.

It wasn't long before they reached the rooms, each getting their own. Nyan-Nyan ushered Lily into hers before saying, "We come get you later to eat," before quickly healing her of her aches and exiting, closing the door behind her.

Lily smiled and plopped herself down on the bed with a smile. "Finally," she sighed. After a week of sleeping on the ground the bed seemed like heaven. It didn't take her long to pass into the world of dreams.

vvvvv

Lily awoke to find herself in an area she had never seen before. She wasn't even lying on the bed she remembered falling asleep on, in fact she was laying a very cold, very uncomfortable, stone floor.

She quickly sat up and looked around for something she could recognize, but found nothing of the sort. Instead she found that she looked to be in the middle of a cave somewhere with a light source she couldn't see and a mass of shadow surrounding her but a yard away.

"Wh-Where am I?" No one answered of course.

Feeling extremely nervous she got to her feet. "Genrou? Chichiri?" When no answer came she called, "Taiitsukun? Nyan-Nayn?" Again there was no answer.

"Is anyone here?" this came out in a soft, quavering voice. "Hello?"

There was a sudden low rumble of laughter held a high mass of malice. Lily blanched and looked about for the maker of the laugh, but saw no one, not that she could see far. A moment later a human figure stepped into the light.

Lily was at a loss for words as she saw the rather handsome person. He had long raven colored hair, which had a piece of tan material wrapped around it in a ponytail type fashion at shoulders level, leaving it to be very loose around his fair face. His eyes were of the softest blue she had ever seen one's eyes ever be and his lips were a delicate red color.

The figure came up to her with a soft smile that made all thought of the horrid laugh from before disappear, "Lily, I've been waiting for you."

Lily blinked, realizing she'd been staring at him, "For me?"

He nodded, "Yes. I've been waiting for so long."

"Who are you?" Lily asked as she took a step away.

"Fenrir," he told her as he held out his hand, "I need your help."

"With what?"

"The trouble that is brewing," he told her, "We haven't much time left."

Did he mean what Chichiri had been talking about? "How can I help with any of it."

"You were called here to help the gods," he told her, "Now come."

Lily's eyes narrowed. "I know my mythology. You're not one of the gods." That was a very bold statement to a man she knew nothing about, especially when she was completely defenseless.

Fenrir nodded, "I am one of their helpers, so to speak. They are distressed as of now and could not come to meet you in person, so I came in their place. Now take my hand and we can be off."

Lily slowly put out her hand and was about to place it in his when she quickly pulled it away. Something wasn't right. "Where are Genrou and the others?"

"They are waiting for you," he told her calmly. "They took my hand without question, being very loyal to their god. Why do you now hesitate?"

"I thought you just said you had come for me from the gods, not from my friends…"

"I did," Fenrir said with a nod, "I had to take your friends to the gods before I could come and get you so that the trip will be a safe one. Now come, we are wasting valuable time."

Lily bowed her head, letting her hair fall into her face, covering her eyes. "No."

"What?"

"I said no," her head was still bowed.

"You're willing to sacrifice the gods out of your petty fear!" Fenrir yelled as he began to get angry.

"No," Lily lifter her head and looked strait at the handsome being before her, "I am willing to save them from whatever troubles they have if that is in fact why I am here."

"Then take my hand!"

Her eyes narrowed once more, "No. You are the enemy here aren't you?"

"How dare you!" Fenrir snarled., "Take my hand now or suffer the consequences girl."

Lily boldly smirked and put her hands on her hips, "You're afraid that I'll actually help the gods aren't you?" For some reason she felt like she was strong enough to take on whatever stood in her way. It was an odd, but good, feeling.

"_Stay away from him Lily," _a masculine voice from somewhere in the shadows told her.

Fenrir seemed to have heard it too, which meant it hadn't been a telepathic message, "Shut up you. You have no right to speak to her!"

"_I have plenty more right than you, demon," _the voice said and Lily could envision that the speaker was smirking.

Fenrir snarled, "How dare you call me that."

This time it was a female who spoke from the shadows, _"But he speaks the truth."_

Lily was perplexed into the shadows, "Who and where are you?"

"_We will meet soon enough,"_ the masculine voice said.

Fenrir leapt forward and gripped his strong hands around Lily's neck, "Not if I have anything to do with it!"

Lily tried to push the hands away from her neck that were cutting off her air supply. She could feel her face turning colors from the lack of air and could feel her mind starting to go fuzzy, but still struggled to get free.

A voice suddenly pierced through the shadows like a knife, "LILY!"

* * *

Uh oh. Is the event just a dream? Or is Lily's life really in danger? Who were the unseen speakers? And who screamed Lily's name?

Find out next time!

Please review

Thanks!


	9. Chapter 9

I don't own FY

Thank you for reviewing _Chichiri's Wanderer__, Crimson Firefox, __mtgranola_and_Pil-Z_.

* * *

**Chapter 9**

Lily's eyes snapped open, but were completely out of focus. She quickly found that she couldn't move because of two things. One, someone or something was holding her down, and two her body seemed to be slightly paralyzed. The later she figured was due to her lack of oxygen intake that was just starting to stabilize and from the throbbing originating from her neck.

'Had the dream been real!' Her mind screamed in horror.

"Lily are you alright?" the voice she recognized as Tasuki's asked, voice full of worry and concern.

Her eyes finally came into focus and she could see his very worried face looking down at her. "Genrou?"

"You had us worried," a mask-less Chichiri said as he came into her view.

"Wha-what happened?" Lily asked, but regretted it as her throat throbbed angrily.

"We have no idea," Tasuki told her, ""We jus' came in to get ya for supper and you looked as if ya were strugglin' 'gainst somethin'," he paused a moment, "Strangled even."

"And you were fading out," Chichiri added.

"Fading?" Lily asked in confusion.

"Hai," Chichiri told her with a nod.

Taiitsukun appeared in the room with two Nyan-Nyan's at her side, they quickly ran to Lily however with a cry of, "We'll heal!"

"You had an unfortunate meeting with the one behind the rising problems," Taiitsukun told her as she floated over.

"He seemed so nice at first," Lily said after the Nyan-Nyan's were done healing her.

Taiitsukun nodded, "He was undoubtedly trying to trick you to joining him so that the threat towards him would be done with." She smiled down at the girl, "But you were wise enough to catch onto this and even brave enough to stand up against him unarmed."

"Brave or foolish?" Lily asked, more to herself than anyone else.

"Brave," Taiitsukun answered. "Most people would have given in to him in fear, or would have died of their fright. Standing up to a demon such as him is no small feat child."

Tasuki released his grip on Lily's shoulders as she moved to sit up. "I don't get it," she began, "What do I have to do with any of this?"

"That is a question that will be answered very shortly," Taiitsukun told her. "Now come, you all must be hungry."

Lily didn't understand the answer, "How do you expect me to eat without an answer. Especially after that encounter!"

Taiitsukun said nothing as she floated out of the room with the Nyan-Nyan's running after her.

Chichiri frowned, but said, "She has her reasons, even though sometimes they don't make sense at first."

"She could have still said somethin' useful," Tasuki said a bit bitterly as he stood and helped Lily to her feet.

Lily walked to the door, unsteady at first, before sighing. She was really starting to get frightened with everything that was going on and it only seemed to get worse as time went on. There was now no doubt in her mind that she was somehow going to be involved in the endeavor, but for good or ill she couldn't decipher, especially after her dream. 'Encounter,' she mentally corrected herself.

Tasuki ruffled her hair, stealing her from her thoughts, "Let's go get somethin' to eat."

With a nod the three of them went off down the hall towards the dining area. No words passed between them, leaving an awkward silence to fall upon them.

As they neared the dining area the hairs of the back of Lily's neck stood on end. With a quick glace to the two seshi's at her sides she could tell they felt something as well. She figured, however, that the two of them were more in tuned to it than she, as they had powers from their god.

That's when she heard a masculine voice like none she had ever known enter her mind, _'I have been anxious to meet you Lily Katalien. There is much we must discuss, but there is little time left to do so."_

Lily stopped and looked around, 'Who was that?' She became frightened that it might just be Fenrir trying to trick her once again.

"You alright Lily?" Chichiri asked as he looked at her in worry, his mask still off.

She looked to him and quickly nodded, "Just fine." She was lying and the look on his face proved that he knew it, but he didn't press the matter as he waved for her to keep walking.

As soon as they entered the dining are Lily knew just who had contacted her telepathically. On the other end of the room, standing next to Tasiitsukun, was a wondrous male being that didn't have the air of malice about him like Fenrir had. In fact the air about him felt peaceful, but strong at the same time.

The being had beautiful silver hair, golden eyes and a fair face. Upon his head was a golden circlet with a golden like tiger paw sticking out from the center of it (in the middle of his forehead) and silver armor that had golden details throughout it.

"Byakko," Chichiri breathed in disbelief.

"Sit," Taiitsukun commanded them. They all complied quickly and quietly.

"I am glad that Fenrir had not been able to steal you away," Byakko said with a small smile once everyone was seated. Everyone looked to him in awe, shock and confusion. "I haven't much time here and so I shall not delay any longer."

With that he went on to telling them the tale that would shock them to a degree that they had never before felt. "A few short weeks ago a dark and powerful shadow ascended upon the realm of the gods. Never before has such a feat been accomplished and the matters are far worse than even that detail, as the shadow had snuck in unnoticed by all four of us until it was too late."

"Genbu was the first to be captured by the shadow known as Fenrir, but he had not gone easily. Genbu was never one to fight, but he proved very capable of holding the enemy off for a great deal of time, however by the time we arrived the battle was over and both were gone."

"Our defenses, so to speak, were on full alert after the event. All attempts to find our fellow god were laid to ruin as not even a trace of either him or his captor was to be found. It seemed as if both had ceased to exist."

"Suzaku was the next to fall, but again, it was not without a great battle among them. Seiryuu had been closest to the battle and was quick to aid his fellow god. I, however, had been out in search of Genbu, as we had not given up on out hopes of find him, and was many leagues away when it had occurred."

"Upon catching wind of the strife I was quick to leave behind what I was doing and ran towards my battling allies. By the time I arrived Suzaku was gone and Seiryuu weakening from a strange force I could not locate. Upon sighting me Fenrir took off, knowing he could not take on a fully energized god after dealing with one and what would have been two had I not arrived when I had."

"Seiryuu was quick to recover. The two of us knew what had to be done; call for aid," he smiled to Lily before continuing, "My miko was deceased and Seiryuu's miko had lost all ability to summon him upon her summons of Genbu when Tenkou first presented himself two and a half years ago."

"We could not call for new miko's since our purpose through that matter of summons had come to a close and the shinzho's had all been used. Our only other choice was to try and contact another, one who would not serve as a miko, but rather serve as something even greater. It proved a very difficult task however as we learned we could not summon just anyone. We had to call upon a female who knew of the events that had occurred here and knew someone from this world that still existed within it, as they would be the medium for their summons."

At the surprised looks on everyone's face, except for that of Taiitsukun's, he nodded knowing what they were thinking. "Yes, Lily was just that sort of person. She knew of both the endeavors that had occurred within this world and a Suzaku seshi who still dwells here. It had not mattered that she had met you, Tasuki, in her world, all that mattered was that you were in this world when she was summoned."

"The events had not been pre-planned however. Tasuki's appearance in Lily's world had been an odd situation as none of us had sent him there. However it did not seem to be something that needed immediate attention as the world was calm, being that it was before Fenrir made his appearance. But when he had, Takuki was brought back for Suzaku knew all living seshi's, with the exception of Tamahome as he had become Taka, should be within their rightful world as their power might be needed."

He looked directly into Lily's eyes, not letting them to leave his, all traces of a smile gone from his fair face. "You're purpose here Lily goes far beyond your reckoning. The fates of millions rests in the actions that you will make in the near future, so you must be sure to think everything you do through to the dullest of aspects. _Nothing_ should go over looked."

"I am not saying you have to aid us, but I ask you to consider it," he closed his eyes a moment, "I shall amend that statement as I know my allies would given this predicament. I, Byakko, the tiger god of the western region of Sairou, beg of you to aid in the release of my fellow gods."

Everyone, even Taiitsukun, was shocked beyond logical thought at that statement. A god was begging a mortal to aid him! Shouldn't it be the other way around? It didn't make sense to anyone. A god should_ not_ be begging for aid!

"H-How can I do- that?" Lily asked when enough shock had slipped away to think and speak, which had been many moments later. "I couldn't even stand against Fenrir in my dream, or whatever it was."

Byakko nodded, "I am aware of your strife with the him, but I am also aware of an ability that lies within you. I am afraid I cannot speak of it, as you must realize it on your own, much like all the seshi's had to." At Lily's very confused look he added, "You must believe in both yourself and in your allies. You must believe beyond that of your heart, but with your entire being. That is all I am able to say on that matter."

"Byakko…" Chichiri began, pausing to make sure he was allowed to speak. When Byakko turned his gaze to him he asked, "What became of Seiryuu?"

The tiger god in human form sighed, "He was captured just over a weak ago. I'm sure you remember the after effects of his disappearance."

"You mean the rain storm?" Chichiri asked in polite confusion.

Byakko nodded, "Within twelve hours after his capture all four countries felt the ripples of his disappearance, but none like the country of his domain, Kutou. "

Lily looked to be counting things on her fingers as she mumbled to herself, "Genbu is associated with stability, wisdom and longevity. Suzaku is associated with power and prosperity as well as love and aggression. Seiryuu is associated with inflicting fears and being invincible, and is surrounded by rain clouds." She looked up, not realizing she had just said all that aloud, "Why is it that Seiryuu was the only one to give of signs of being captured when the other two could have as well?"

"It's Seiryuu," Tasuki mumbled, earning a glare from Taiitsukun that shut him up.

"He was not," Byakko began to explain, "His were just more widely known. When Genbu disappeared stability began to fall in his province and it is quickly heading outward. With Suzaku, the capital of Konan is falling as its years of prosperity are now dying with his disappearance. The royal family is in trouble."

"Houki, Boushin," Chichiri breathed in worry.

Byakko nodded, "They have entered hard times now with Suzaku's disappearance, but it seems all problems as of yet are still within the city itself. However, I am not sure as to how long that will continue to last. Things are worsening by the day and I fear civil wars will soon brake out if something is not done and done quickly."

"Do we go to the capital first?" Lily asked the question that had been brewing on the minds of both seshi's.

"No," Byakko said quickly and firmly. "To go there will cause more trouble than you can possibly imagine. And you would be walking right into Fenrir's clutches as he seems to take pleasure in the chaos and disorder caused by the absence of the gods."

Lily gently bit the knuckle of her right index finger as she thought. Byakko seemed to have read her thoughts as he said, "First you should head to the north east."

Tasuki looked strait at the god, "That would take us right to-"

"Kutou," Byakko finished for him. "I have been trying to trace a region of origination from Fenrir, and I have gotten a small hint towards that region. I am not exactly sure on what you should be looking for, but perhaps you will know when you see it."

At that moment Byakko began to fade, "Before I leave you should know that while the powers Suzaku granted to you normally recharges themselves after every use you will find that now it will simply become less and less. Soon that power will cease to be if he and the rest of the gods are not released."

He looked to Lily, he was almost completely gone now, "If you wish to aid us Lily head towards Kutou. I shall hunt for more information and hope I am not caught. Please, I beg of you to give us your aid, it is all we have left." With that he was gone, his time on the mortal plane had expired, being that he did not want to attract unwanted attention towards himself.

Lily stood with determination of new accounts written on her face, "I guess we have a place to begin. We should set off at once."

"Nonsense," Taiitsukun said as she watched the girl. "You are already weary from travel, not to mention your encounter, and you must let all that you have heard sink in."

"We don't have time!" Lily yelled. She quickly realized she had raised her voice in something that wasn't a cry of fright and that both scared and startled herself.

Taiitsukun smiled, "It is good to see that you are more than willing to help the gods, but you will be of no use if you run in into this without understanding what information has been given to you. It is more than likely that you will get yourself killed by doing such a thing and then the gods would truly be left at the mercy of this beast."

Lily nodded and sat down, head bowed in embarrassment, "I'm sorry."

"Do not be child," Taiitsukun told her, "Your determination will come in handy when you leave within a day or two. For now," she clapped her hands, "You must all eat and regain your strength."

Nyan-Nyan's came in with many dishes of different foods and laid them out on the table for the trio to enjoy, as it would be one of the last large meals they would have for some time.

* * *

So Byakko is begging for help… very odd indeed for a god. What are they to look for? How will Lily face off with her enemy next they meet?

Find out as things progress.

Please review

Thanks!


	10. Chapter 10

I don't own FY.

I'm not dead! Geez, it's been something around four weeks since I've last updated! Sorry about that!

You know, I always found that school slowed down come the end of the year, but this year it's done the exact opposite. One thing that's killed any time to sit and type my stories is three research papers, all given at about the same time. Two were due back to back and the other was due four days later. And lets just say that if one is failed (which I've never done in my life, thankfully) I don't graduate.

Getting away from all that

Thank you for reviewing:

**Pil-z** – Thank you and I'm sorry about the late update. I seriously thought that all would calm down after the senior art show, or at least prom, but just my luck that thing haven't.

**Chichiri's Wanderer **– Yep, slowly but surely all the living sensei's will grow weak, but the question is, will Lily be able to stop it? Hmmm… we'll have to wait and see. And sorry for keeping you waiting so long.

**Crimson Firefox **– Thanks, I hope this one is better then the last so it can, in some fashion, make up for the long delay.

**Silver Pain **– Lol. Ya that line did cause me chuckle. That's a good question, one that won't be answered in this chapter however. Ah yes, Byakko. I had debated in the beginning whether or not to have him or Genbu as the surviving god. I decided I liked tigers more. Lol. There was more to it than that actually, what Byakko is associated with made me what to go with him more than Genbu.

* * *

**Chapter 10**

Lily tossed and turned in her sleep all night as dark events clouded her mind, keeping her from falling into a world of peace and tranquility. There was pain and great strife seen through her minds eye and no matter how much she tried she could not rid herself of it.

There was a great beast that looked like a giant turtle with snake like creatures coming out of its massive shell. It was a wondrous creature that Lily had never before seen, but it had a sense of great power and authority, much like Byakko had held when in their presence.

Even though this creature grasped her attention firmly there was something else that seemed to have an even stronger pull on her. As she glanced past of the turtle like creature she saw another wondrous creature, however this creature was wondrous in a frightening way.

The beast seemed to be of shadow, yet it had the definite shape of a wolf, its fur flowing like that of a black flame and its eyes were a soul piercing blue. Lily shivered at the frighteningly cold aura it gave off, even though she was some ways away from it. It felt evil, almost too evil for her to bear.

The shadow wolf leapt forward with its jaws wide open as if to ferociously bite something. The snake upon the turtle like beasts lunged forward, preventing the wolf from biting it or the one to who it were attached to. This didn't seem to deter the black beast as it clawed at the snake, leaving a deep gash upon its body.

The snake recoiled before lunging forward once again, this time its mouth closed down on one of the front legs of the creature, causing it to yelp and bite at it. The wolf's teeth never got to sink into its target however, as the giant turtle itself rammed into it with such intensity that the wolf was thrown back.

"Why are they fighting?" Lily asked in shock and fear. Red blood dripped down the snake from the wound the wolf had given it and a deep purple substance she guessed was blood oozed from the shadow beast's leg. Despite the injury the wolf had determination shown within its eyes, a determination Lily could only place with the villains or fowl beasts she knew of from movies or books.

It then struck her like a bolt of lighting; this was the battle between Genbu and Fenrir. Somehow she was seeing the past, seeing the very events that had caused the gods so much strife. She was, in fact, witnessing the event that had inevitably led to her arrival in this world.

There was a loud pounding noise and the earth beneath Lily's feet ripple like the waves created in a placid pond when a pebbled is thrown into it. For a moment, given her shock, she wondered if a meteor had crashed into the ground, but upon regaining her senses she realized that Genbu had been thrown back roughly, landing on his back.

Genbu shifted violently as he tried desperately to get back on his front. Taking the situation to his advantage Fenrir lunged at the fallen god with his claws extended, tongue lolling out the side of his mouth.

"Genbu!" Lily screamed.

Suddenly the snake shot out from underneath the god to ferociously latch itself to Fenrir's neck. In its sharp movement the snake had sharply turned Genbu on his side, which was enough for the god to then clamber to his feet.

The snake unlatched itself from its prey's neck as Genbu unleashed a wave of freezing breath. Fenrir leapt high into the air to evade the attack, but was not quite fast enough to prevent the tip of his tail from being frozen.

The wolf had no time to even growl upon landing, as the snake once again came strait at him. In a quick movement Fenrir swiped the snake away with a clawed paw, creating several deep gashes, before going directly for Genbu. This time the snake could not react fast enough and there was no time to breathe ice.

Fenrir's sharp jaws clamped down upon Genbu's neck hard enough to immobilize him, but not hard enough to kill him. The god fell to the ground, the snake wriggle for a few brief moments before falling still. It was only then that Fenrir let go of his grasp and not a second later did a black mist devour them, leaving no sign of either beasts once it cleared.

A sharp roar from the distance came to meet Lily's ears, causing her horrified gaze to climb to the sky. In the distance she could vaguely make out a blue snake like creature and a red blur she figured was a bird, only to realize once they was closer that it was the dragon known as Seiryuu and the phoenix known as Suzaku. Behind her came another roar, one that belonged to the giant tiger god known as Byakko, whose massive head lay directly over her.

…_by the time we arrived the battle was over and both were gone._

Byakko's words echoed in her head as she watched the god's confusion. Next Suzaku would fall victim, but there was nothing she could do about it, it was all in the past. All she could do was correct the events to save the future, but to do that she would undoubtedly have to go up against Fenrir.

'How am I supposed to fight him?' she asked herself worriedly. The feat seemed impossible now that she had seen him fight and the reality of the god's falls finally crashed into her mind.

She looked down to her feet with a heavy sigh. 'I am no miko, nor am I a seshi. I have no god given powers like Tasuki. How am I going to fix this mess?'

Only a few hours ago she had been so confident in everything, she had felt that she could indeed beat Fenrir at his own game, but now it seemed hopeless. There was only one god left and he could rarely contact them, something that was not in the least soothing to her mind.

'But when are hero's battles ever easy?' She found her mind questioning. 'When is it ever a simple matter of barging in, waving a sword about and declaring that all will be as you desire it and having it happen for a hero?'

"Never," Lily said aloud, though she hardly felt like a hero. A pawn perhaps, but not a hero.

Everything around her began to ripple and fade like an illusion in the scorching deserts.

vvvv

With a groan Lily sat up and opening her eyes to she realized that she was back in the room Taiitsukun had given her during her stay, laying on the soft bed that had done nothing to give her a peaceful nights sleep. The soft rays of light entered the room through the windows, dancing upon the carpeted floor and polished furniture.

After releasing a deep yawn and stretching her tired limbs Lily climbed out of bed. As she began to take her out from the braid in which it was held she pondered over her dream and her own capabilities for doing as the gods wished her to.

If she decided not to help she could go home and be safe from these trying matters, but her life at home was far from perfect. If she decided to help she would save thousands, but run the risk of getting herself killed and inevitably doing nothing to help anyone else.

What was a person to do?

A soft knock at the door brought Lily from her thoughts. As she looked over the door opened slightly and an all too familiar red head poked his head in.

"An' here I was ready to rattle ya out of bed," Tasuki smirked as he opened the door all the way and leaned against the doorframe. "Well, breakfast is ready and you'll want to eat somethin' since we've got a long trip ahead of us."

Lily nodded, "Thank you Tasuki."

The bandit waved the comment off, "No need to thank me. Just hurry up and get ready." With that he turned and left, closing the door behind him.

"That's not the thanks I meant," Lily murmured to herself as she placed her hair tie down on the table. The sight of a white shirt resting over the back of the nearby chair brought a faint smile to her face; it was the one she had 'borrowed' from Tasuki the day after she had pneumonia, she never had returned it.

Picking it up she could not help but let her smile grow at the feel of soft material in her hands. A frown quickly took over however as she remembered she had a decision to make. With a sigh she folded the shirt and placed it gently on the table before picking up her brush and started removing the tangles that had found their way into her hair.

* * *

Hmm. Once confident, now questioning. What path will Lily choose?

I'm hoping that the next chapter will be up next weekend since by then most of my finals will be over, but I do have my math final on either the 14th or 15th… lets just say I hate math and my mind is very sketchy on what I learned at the beginning of the year. If anything I'll update the day after my final. Ya, that sounds like good plan to me.

Please review!

Thanks!


	11. Chapter 11

I don't own FY

Just so you know this chapter is probably the shortest that will be seen throughout the entire story. This is due to the fact that this is the last chapter before we return to the present. Remember the first chapter led us to the past? If not just scan over the first chapter and you'll probably remember.

Thanks for reviewing:

**Chichiri's Wanderer **– Weakening might just become the least of his worries, but you'd have to be the judge of that in later chapters. We'll see if she can do what's needed as thing progress as well. It all shall remain a mystery for now… I'm feeling very evil. Lol.

**Silver Pain **– Sorry if the idea of 'paths' confused you. I just meant that she could choose to not help the gods and go home (one path) or choose to help and risk her very life (another path). And I'm glad you liked the battle.

**Crimson Firefox **– Thank you! I feel my battle scenes could use more work though. Lol. They're marvelous in my head, but when I try to write it down I seem to lack the proper wording. I've gotten much better, as the battle in this story came out really rather well, but there is always work that needs to be done.

**Pil-z** – Lol. I'm glad you liked it as well. I like wolves, though not as much as you it would seem. Lol. Well that makes a great villain isn't it. Someone you want to love (or like), yet hate at the same time. It seems that so many anime shows have that now that I'm thinking of it XP

* * *

**Chapter 11**

Lily sat herself down at the table quietly and helped herself to peach. As she took a small bite out of it she could feel a pair of eyes watching her, causing her to shift uncomfortably. "Genrou …"

"Nani?" The bandit smiled.

She shook her head and decided not to voice her discomfort, hoping he would figure it out. On a normal day she could have probably dealt with the steady gaze, but with her mind in disarray as it tried to figure out what she was going to do about the gods dilemma she could not handle it.

Chichiri easily noted Lily's discomfort and decided he had better try to distract them both before something happened. "It'll take a few days to get to Kutou, no da, and unless we are fortunate and find whatever it is Byakko wants us to quickly we'll undoubtedly spend a few days searching for it."

Lily nodded and took a larger bite out of the peach, relieved that Tasuki was no long looking at her. She couldn't believe that just the night before she had been all hyped up to go save the gods because now she was afraid of what could happen along the way. She took a sip of her water before taking another bite of her fruit, mind still contemplating what needed to be thought about.

"You're awfully quiet," Tasuki said as he placed down his cup. When Lily did not answer, just nodded, he frowned. "You alrigh'?"

"Ya," she said softly, not looking up to him, "Just thinking."

"It's alright to be afraid," Chichiri voiced, causing Lily to look across the table to him and find his mask removed. "I'd be worried if you weren't actually. You've never been through anything like this, neither have Tasuki or I for that matter, but we've been through tough battles. You just can't give up hope before you even get started."

Lily smiled faintly and nodded before she finished with her peach.

vvv

Taiitsukun hovered before the trio with a serious face. Their bags were all packed and lay at their sides, ready to leave in a moments notice. They had food, water and clean cloths as well as any other necessities for travel.

"The journey will only get tougher from here," Taiitsukun told then. "You must be prepared for anything the moment you leave the safety of this mountain."

"Taiitsukun," Lily began softly, "Has there been any news from Byakko?"

The elder lady shook her head, "I'm afraid not, but take heart in knowing that he has not been captured."

"How do you know?" Lily questioned.

"Just how Seiryuu disappeared with a sign in the form of rain, Byakko would give a sign of some sort should he too fall," Taiitsukun explained. "But worry not for him now. You're task is to go to Kutou and find a way to break Fenrir's hold on the other three gods."

Lily looked down at her feet uneasily. The feeling of a hand upon her head made her look to the bearer, only to find Tasuki giving her a reassuring smile, "Everythin's going to be fine Lil."

Taiitsukun came before her with a white ribbon in her hands. "Byakko wanted me to give this to you before you left." Lily gingerly took the object from her hands and held it in her own questioningly.

The elder smiled at her, "Hope is like a thread, one single strand cannot make anything useful, but when joined with others it can become something wonderful. You have your friends within this world, even if some are not accompanying you, to help you with whatever you need and that alone can create something beyond your recognition."

"Thank you," Lily softly said as she curled her fingers around the material with a small smile, though she had not understood what Taiitsukun had just said.

Taiitsukun nodded, "Now go and do what you feel is right, not what someone else feels is right."

* * *

And so they're off! Why did Byakko want Lily to have the ribbon? Was it just so Taiitsukun could give her speech, or does it have another purpose? Will Lily help the gods, or back out?

Find out in the next chapter when we go back to the present!

Please revie.

Thanks!


	12. Chapter 12

I don't own FY.

I don't have time for formal reviews, but thank you for reviewing; **Crimson Firefox**, **Booma-Chan**, **Chichiri's Wanderer**, **Pil-z**

…. OMG! I graduated from HS yesterday (the 24th)! …. OK I may sound hyper but really I am dead tired. I was up till nearly five because of the all night graduation party, got five hours of sleep because I had a friends party to go to and now I'm soooooo tired… but I won a 20 in color TV at the all night grad party XD

* * *

**Chapter 12**

'Oh, right. That's how I got into this mess,' Lily thought as she looked up from her musing. So much had happened in the few weeks she had been in this world, rarely leaving a day without some kind of event.

Her feet fell upon dry leaves, crushing them into small fragments with bits of noise to follow. Other than that and the occasional snap of a twig everything was quiet. No one had spoken since she had begun her musing some ten minutes before, a fact that mildly disturbed her.

For several days they had been searching the area within Kutou with no trace of whatever it was they were supposed to be looking for. The only thing they had to go off of was the last message obtained by Byakko before his capture, a message that told them what specific area to look in.

A bright flash was suddenly seen, followed by a loud crack of thunder. Chichiri looked up to the sky with a deep frown, "We should find cover, this storm looks like it'll a bad one."

Lily sighed, she did miss the monk's 'no da's' but she would not voice the matter. She knew the issues they had been facing demanded and ample amount of seriousness and would not push the matter until, perhaps, it was well needed.

"'ey, there's a cave over there," Tasuki pointed to the barely visible cave. Vines and fallen tree limbs practically made the cave look as if it were just a simple side of the cliff it dwelled in.

"That'll have to do," Chichiri said. "We don't have much time before this storm hits."

Just as they reached the front of the cave it began to rain softly, turning into a torrential downpour by the time they had cleared the vines and made it inside. "This rain isn't normal for these parts," Chichiri frowned as he turned and started making a fire with the help of Tasuki.

Lily gazed out into the area they had just retreated from, or at least she tried to, but the rain was coming down so hard and in such large drops that visibility was slim to none. "Does it have to something with the gods?"

"Most likely," Chichiri responded. "Since this is the home to those who worship Seiryuu it's probably has to do with his disappearance."

"But he already made his capture known," Tasuki said, "So why's he continuing? Even though I hate the god, it doesn't right that he'd want to wash out his domain."

The monk brushed the dirt off his hands upon getting the fire started, "He doesn't. The land is simply unstable without his presence."

"That's why they have to be freed," Lily said softly as she sat near the fire and held her hands out to warm them up.

"Cold?" Tasuki asked.

"A bit, yes," she softly replied. "But I'll be alright."

Tasuki nodded and let his gaze drift to the fire as it burned merrily, offering some light in the darkness of the cave. "Wonder how much longer it'll take to find this place Byakko wants us to get to."

Chichiri sighed, "I wish I knew the answer. Taiitsukun can't aid us any further with the gods now completely out of reach."

"Byakko said we would know it when we saw it," Lily said after a moment as she took her hair down from ponytail it was in, holding the ribbon Taiitsukun had given her.

"Ya, but that isn't telling us where it is, or how long it will take to get there," Tasuki pointed out.

The monk fiddled with his kesa as he repositioned it in a more comfortable position upon his shoulder. "It'll only take another day to look through this area, if we don't find it by then we'll have back track and hope we catch sight of it. If we don't," he sighed, "We'll have to go back to searching the entire country side."

Lily couldn't take the seriousness now that they were stuck until the rain had stopped. "Chichiri," he looked to her, "Say 'no da'."

"No da?" the words didn't hold the old merriment to them, but before a frown could appear on Lily's features he said, "Why do you want me to say no da, no da? Are my no da's that funny no da?" The words held the childish like voice that normally appeared when his mask was on, despite the fact that it was not upon his face.

Lily smiled and laughed softly, causing the monk to smile as well. "You're right Lily no da," Chichiri began to say, "We can't let seriousness consume us, we do need a few smiles and laughs to break things up, no da." Even though the girl had never voiced the comment to which Chichiri had spoken about her mere request made him understand what words had not.

Tasuki smiled and ruffled Lily's hair, "Keep it up and this job won't seem too bad," he teased.

With a faint smiled Lily responded with, "That would do well for all our hearts." She knew the two Suzaku seshi were deeply worried about their country and would happen if they did not release the gods soon. Even more she knew that her fears of the upcoming events were growing with every passing minute and coming to rest in this cave had doubled the feeling tenfold for whatever reason.

Placing the ribbon between her lips Lily ran her hands through her hair to straiten it out. When she felt content with it she quickly French-braided it and tied the ribbon at the end to keep her hair from unraveling.

She was about to try and relax when something moved in her peripheral vision, but it wasn't either of her companion's and when she looked she saw nothing but the darkness of the cave. Suddenly a feeling of deja-vu overcame her and she shivered at the memory of her first meeting with Fenrir.

"You alright Lil?" Tasuki asked, concern evident in his voice.

Lily nodded before turning her gaze to him and smiling weakly. "I think I'm just tired is all."

The bandit nodded, "You can rest then, I'll wake ya when we're goin' to leave."

"_There really is no need for that_," a newer voice said, one that Lily recognized as the voice of the unseen male in her nightmare that truly was her first encounter with her greatest foe.

Tasuki gave Lily a very concerned look, "Are you sure you're alright? You look really pale."

The girl was in fact paler than she had been moments before. "Did- didn't you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Tasuki gave her a quizzical look.

"That voice," Lily said in fright.

Tasuki put a hand to her forehead, "You don't have a fever." He frowned, "You really must be tired."

The voice from before laughed, causing Lily to grab onto Tasuki tightly. The confused bandit looked down at the girl who had her arms wrapped around his chest, "If you wanted to stay near me you could have just said so Lil."

"It laughed," Lily murmured.

"You mean that voice?" Chichiri asked.

Lily looked to him almost hopefully, "Did you hear it?" When the monk shook his head she frowned and rested her cheek on Tasuki's chest once more.

"_I do hope you know that I am not an 'it.' I do have a name,_" the voice sounded more amused than offended. The bearer of the voice came out from the shadows and knelt down where Lily been before she had clung herself to the bandit leader.

Lily squirmed closer to Tasuki in an attempt to get farther away, but the pair of arms wrapped protectively around her prevented her from going very far. "Lil?"

"He's right there," her voice shook as she pointed to the amused newcomer.

"Where?" Chichiri questioned as he looked around.

"There!" Lily exclaimed. She didn't understand, she was pointing right at him, how could they not see him.

The man she was pointing at laughed. For the first time Lily realized that the laugh wasn't anything like Fenrir's, in fact it was rather pleasant. Dropping her hand she allowed herself to look him over and try to figure out who he was and what he wanted.

His hair was dark blue in color, most of it tied up in a bun like fashion leaving a few strands to fall out to act as bangs, which outline his rather handsome face. The mere thought of her thinking such a thing was disturbing since she had last thought Fenrir to be handsome and he had tried to kill her. His soft brown eyes were filled with amusement and his lips were turned into a soft smile. His garb was something she had never seen, it looked almost royal.

It was then that she realized the one thing that explained why the others couldn't see or hear him, but left her questioning why she could.

He was a ghost.

* * *

Hmm, who's the ghost? Can you guess? Hint: he's not a main character.

OK… I need sleep now….

Please Review

Thanks.


	13. Chapter 13

I don't own Fushigi Yuugi

Thank you for reviewing:

**Crimson Firefox **– Thank you :) Mr. Ghosty is my second favorite character (Tasuki and Chichiri being tied for first). And his name is reviled, but you might be able to guess it before it's said.

**Chichiri's Wanderer**– Lol. I did leave a nasty cliff hanger with the ghost didn't I. But the wait is nearly over as you'll find out in this chapter.

**Pil-Z**– Thank you :) Yes, it is indeed one of her powers, but there's more to it than you've seen thus far. Sorry for the spelling. I reread the last chapter when I was dead tired and my brain was about to shut off XP I'd have picked up more of the mistakes had I been awake.

* * *

**Chapter 13**

Lily found herself staring questioningly at the ghost only a few feet away from her. She hadn't the slightest idea who he was and she had never heard about him from Tasuki, leaving her to wonder his true purpose.

"_Didn't anyone ever tell you that it's rude to stare?_" the ghost asked. There was no sign of offence in his voice, but the smile had vanished from his face.

"Sorry," Lily murmured. "Who are you?"

The ghost seemed to ponder the question. "_Someone who wants to help, that's all you need to know at this point in time_."

Tasuki raised a brow as he looked down at the girl in his arms, "Lil, who are you talking to?"

Before she could answer the seshi the ghost spoke once more, "_You need to follow me, time is running out_." He stood up and took several steps backwards, gaze staying upon her.

Lily's eyes widened, "You mean we've found what Byakko wanted us to?" The ghost nodded in response.

"Lily?" Tasuki was getting rather worried about the girls' odd behavior.

"It's a ghost," Lily answered the question he had asked before as she tried to get out of his embrace.

Tasuki did not release her however, he was concerned that she might be imagining things due to all the stress she'd been under. "I think you should get some rest."

"Genrou let go," Lily tugged on arms to no avail.

The ghost frowned, "_It would figure that they would be most obstinate when it is least necessary._"

"Tasuki let her go," Chichiri commanded.

"Do you see what she's seeing?" Tasuki asked in confusion.

The monk shook his head, "No, but perhaps we're not meant to. After all it is Lily's duty to free the gods, not our own."

With an agitated sigh Tasuki let the girl in his arms go, but suddenly missed the feeling once she was gone. "What do we have to do then?"

"He said to follow him," Lily told them as she brushed off her cloths. She looked to the two seshi's, "Common you two, we can at least explore some of the cave to see if what I'm being told is right or not."

Chichiri got to his feet, "That sounds like a good idea." Tasuki said nothing on the matter, or nothing that anyone could understand from his mumbling as he too stood.

Smiling Lily turned back to the ghost, "Let's go."

"_Very anxious aren't we,_" the ghost chuckled. He turned and walked deeper into the cave.

Lily made to follow, but was stopped by a firm hand on her shoulder. She was turned around to face the one who stopped her; the redheaded bandit leader. "Aren't you forgetting something?" Before she could ask he held out Kouji's sword.

"Oh, thank you," she blushed in embarrassment as she took the sword. With a bit of help from the bandit she had it properly tied around her waist; she had a problem with tying the knot.

Tasuki smiled softlt at her, "Don't be in such a rush alright." He gave her a fond pat of the cheek, letting his hand linger where it was for a brief moment before pulling away completely.

"We'll be needing these as well," Chichiri said as he handed Lily a torch. A knowing smile played on his face as he handed one to Tasuki as well, causing the bandit to give him a confused glance.

"_All set?_" the ghost asked patiently from somewhere in the darkened area of the cave.

"I think so," Lily answered. With a final glace at her two friends she picked up her bag and made her way towards where the ghost lay hidden in darkness. She found him easily enough standing in front of a large boulder, his hands resting in the sleeves of his garment.

"_This way,_" he turned and walked through the boulder.

"But-"

"_It's an illusion,_" the ghost cut her off.

Taking a breath Lily closed her eyes and took a step forward. When she reopened them she found herself in a dark tunnel, the ghost standing a few feet away. She was shocked only for a brief moment, for when her friends came through her attention was diverted to them.

"Another passage," Chichiri said in wonder as he looked behind him at the illusion of the bolder. "Fenrir must have placed the illusion there."

"_Correct Houjun,_" the ghost replied even though he knew the seshi could not hear him.

Lily gave him an odd look, "Ho-"

"_Don't repeat it_," the ghost said sternly, but is voice quickly came back to a normal tone, "_It is Chichiri's rightful name, but if you use it he'll know who I am_."

"Is that such a bad thing?"

The ghost sighed and turned around, "_You would not understand_." Without glancing back he started forward.

"Of course I can't if you don't tell me," Lily frowned as she followed, the two Suzaku seshi's not far behind her with confused faces.

"_How is it that you were deathly afraid of me not ten minutes ago but now you're not afraid to badger me?_"

"Because you scared me at first, but I remember back when you spoke out against Fenrir," Lily smiled, "You tried to get him away from me, so you can't be all that bad."

The ghost slowed his pace to allow her to come to his side. "_Are you that trusting?_"

"A life for a life is the old saying," Lily smiled up at him, "So I feel trust is the least I can do to repay you for trying to save me back then."

There was only silence between them for several moments. The only noise was the soft patter of feet on stone and the occasional droplet of water falling from the ceiling. It was an awkward silence, one where words could easily break it, yet they did not, at least not between the two of them.

"Are you getting this one sided conversation?" Tasuki whispered to the monk beside him, unfortunately for him the tunnel let it echo just enough for Lily to hear.

Chichiri gave him a look, "It isn't hard to understand, at least not yet. Besides, do you realize that they can hear you?"

"Eh?" Tasuki looked glanced forward in time to see Lily turn her head back forward. He laughed nervously, "No offence Lil."

Lily did not respond, but mentally she forgave the bandit. She turned her attention back to the translucent man beside her, "So mister Ghost, what is your name. You told me before not to call you 'it' so what should I call you."

"_For now I am just a nameless ghost and I intend to keep it that way,_" his tone was calm, but his words were meant to be taken seriously.

She frowned, but let the subject drop. To busy herself she glanced around the passage as they continued their trek. The walls were ragged from the water that leaked down from the ceiling and even the floor had its ridges. Every so often a stray passage leading off of the one they were on appeared.

"Where do those passage lead?" Lily found herself asking.

"_To different places all over Kutou,_" the ghost answered. "_None of which will be of any use to us._"

"Oh, al-YAH!" Lily broke off screaming and stumbled to the floor as something rather large ran out at her from a passage they were just passing. That something turned out to be a lizard like creature with extremely sharp teeth and drool dripping from its jaws.

The ghost grabbed her, protecting her from a vicious bite that would have left her badly wounded, but it did hit his forearm. His face scrunched up in pain as the animal bit down harder, trying to remove the lib.

"What the hell is it biting!" Tasuki yelled, relieved that Lily unharmed.

Getting away from the ghost who had saved her she quickly got to her feet and took out her sword. "Hold still," she told the dark haired man before raising her sword into the air. Feeling that it was in the proper place she threw her arms down, letting the sharp blade slice through the animals neck before it had time to turn and attack her.

Lily was left shaken and stumbled backwards, falling to her behind once more. Never before had she killed anything and even though she knew she had saved someone's life doing it she didn't feel any better. She watched the ghost take his arm from the jaws of the beast and gingerly hold it as it bled.

Forgetting the blade she moved to the injured man. "How could it hurt you?" She asked as she made a move to take his arm, only to fail as he waved her away.

"_Fenrir has granted these beasts such abilities,_" he answered through clenched teeth. "_He deems us a nuisance and wanted to get rid if us before you arrived._"

"Us? There's others like you?" She asked.

"_Only one more, she's farther ahead_."

Lily nodded and sighed as she watched the man cradle his arm. "Can you just let me see it? You did get injured protecting me."

"_You wouldn't be able to do anything,_" he told her, "_The cave doesn't have Fenrir's spell on it, only the creatures._"

Tasuki appeared at Lily's side with the blade she had neglected, the blood wiped from it already. "Here," he carefully handed her the hilt so she could put it away.

"Thanks Genrou," she said softly as she took the sword.

"Welcome," he replied as he looked curiously at the ground. "There's blood here and it's not from the lizard." He looked up, "Are you hurt?"

"No," Lily replied. With the ghosts distraction she snatched his arm away, but was mindful of the wound.

The ghost was clearly shocked beyond belief, "_You- you can touch me._"

Lily looked at the arm in her hands and blinked, "I guess so." She didn't know whether she had initially thought she could touch him or if she had thought her hand would go strait through him, but whatever she had thought she had proven his claim incorrect.

"_How can you touch me?_"

"Honestly I don't know," Lily replied, still in shock herself. With a slight shake of her head she cleared her mind, "But it doesn't matter, just let me tend to this nasty bite." She carefully removed her bag from her back, always keeping one supporting hand on the injured limb. She handed the bag to Tasuki, "Can you take out the bandages that Kouji made me pack?"

Tasuki nodded and shifted things around until he found what was wanted as well as some ointment. He knew now that this ghost she had been talking about was as real as he was, the blood had proven that.

Without a word Lily lifted up the ghost's sleeve, grimacing at the wound for only a moment before she took the objects from Tasuki. Quickly but gently she applied the ointment before handing the bottle back to the bandit and tightly wrapped the area up to stop the bleeding.

With all that done she let out a sigh, "I hope that helps."

"_It will, thank you,_" he replied with a smile as he took his arm back, only to gasp.

"What is it?" Lily asked in worry.

The dark haired man flexed his hand, "_This can't be._"

Lily looked to Tasuki, silently pleading for him to tell her what she had done wrong. Her look was quickly wiped from her face as she saw the bandit standing there wide eyed and mouth agape. She turned to see Chichiri not far behind her and he seemed to be in a complete state of shock as well.

"I can see him!" Tasuki suddenly yelled. "Oi, Chichiri it's him!"

"What?" Lily was deeply confused.

Chichiri remained rooted to his spot, his gaze now locked with the one who had once been invisible, "Hikou."

* * *

The ghost is Hikou! … You meet him in the OVA's. For anyone who hasn't seen them Hikou was/still is Chichiri's best friend. I love Hikou! I completely misunderstood him the first time I saw the episode (oops), but when I re-watched it I understood his pain and suffering.

But somehow he's become visible... or at least partly so. How?

Please review.

Thanks!


	14. Chapter 14

I don't own FY

Sorry for the delay. I was on vacation last week and I meant to update yesterday, but my brain didn't want to function on as much as I wanted it to.

Thanks for reviewing:

**Chichiri's Wanderer**– You'll find out in this chapter what the reason was behind it. And your assumed will be answered as right or wrong by the end as well. I won't spoil anything for you.

**Silver Pain** – I'm not sure what it is, I just always put OVA. Lol. I'll have to look that up later. His wings were so cool, but as of right now he doesn't have them. You'll find out the reason behind his visibility in this chapter.

**Crimson Firefox **– Lol. Surprising people is always loads of fun. Sorry for the delay!

**Pil-Z**– Thank you :D When I wrote his description I wondered how many people would catch it since Hikou is a very minor character. It's cool that you're one of the people that got it.

**D.D.Z.**– Lol. Loads of questions. You'll get your answers in this chapter though, so you won't be left in the dark.

* * *

**Chapter 14**

"You can see him now?" Lily asked in confusion as she gazed at the surprised monk.

"What did you do?" for the first time the dark haired man's voice echoed in the passageway as if it belonged to a living being.

Lily turned back to him, "I don't know." Her voice shook slightly as she said this.

Hikou looked down at his bandaged wound, his hand resting on it gently. His body had been nothing but a light blue glow before, but now it held a slight bit of color to it, even his garments did. He might look like a print that is extremely washed out, but he had color none the less, something he had not had since he was laid to rest by Chichiri some time ago. It was amazing, yet, at the same time, very disturbing.

Looking up to the girl before him he noticed something that made the event even more disturbing. Lily had, ever so slightly, become paler, something that was not a good sign. "Don't touch me again," Hikou almost commanded. Now he understood how he had become visible to Lily's companions.

Her touch, even the fact that she had been able to touch him, was something magical. It was a gift, perhaps, from the gods who had summoned her. Unfortunately this ability had its side affects; it drained her life energy.

"Why ya being so rude to her?" Tasuki growled, "She did wrap your wound."

Hikou did not answer him, nor did he utter any form of a word, not even to the still shocked monk. Instead he turned and faced in the direction they had been heading before, "We should keep moving, more beasts will undoubtedly be on their way."

Lily did not let his command get to her; she kept by his side as they moved forward. "What is your name? I didn't catch it when Chichiri had said it."

"Hikou," he replied calmly.

With a nod another question arose, "Why was I the only one who could see you before?"

"It was arranged that way by the gods," he told her. "But I had not expected you to be able to touch me- or make me visible for that matter."

"I made you visible?"

Hikou nodded. "It was not the beast, which was just able to assault me, as I said before, because Fenrir gave it the ability to do so. You, obviously, wouldn't be gifted by your enemy."

"If that's true then why do you not want me to touch you?" Lily asked in confusion. "Don't you want to be completely seen again?"

Hikou sighed, "I have a feeling you would not just make me visible Lily, you'd make me alive once more."

"That's a good thing!" Lily half cried happily.

"No," he said very sternly, earning a gaze that was very taken aback.

"Hikou-" Chichiri began but was cut off by his ghostly friend.

"This has nothing to do with you Houjun. If she brings be from the realm of the dead she will most likely take my place within it. If you had not noticed the color I gained was stripped from her own flesh."

Lily gazed down at her arm questioningly, "It was?"

"You are slightly paler than before," Hikou pointed out to her.

Tasuki grabbed Lily's hand and spun her around to look at him. His eyes gazed into hers before looking at her completely. "Ya do look a tiny bit paler, but you were frightened before." He looked to the ghostly man, "Couldn't it have been caused by that?"

"No," Chichiri spoke before Hikou, who had stopped when Lily had. "Her skin would have turned back to normal by now if it had been from fright."

With a sigh Lily shrugged it off, "Let's keep going, please."

Quietly they walked on; Hikou in front, Tasuki and Lily side by side and Chichiri picking up the rear. The tunnel they were in opened up into a large chamber with a small lake off to the side, disappearing as it went under the rocky walls as followed a current.

Every now and then a slithering noise was heard above the soft patter of their feet, making Lily nervous. Absentmindedly she grabbed onto Tasuki's hand as she glanced around. A reassuring squeeze brought her attention to what her brain had done without telling her. A blush crept up onto her cheeks, but she did not pull away as she once would have.

"We are almost there," Hikou told them, breaking the silence that had befallen them.

The end of the chamber was revealed to have four different passages. "Which way?" Tasuki asked as he stoked the back of Lily's hand with his thumb.

Hikou pointed to the one farthest to the left wordlessly, altering his steps so he traveled in its direction. This tunnel proved to be more of a challenge to walk upon than the last as it was extremely uneven.

"What will we find at the end of this tunnel Hikou?" Chichiri asked.

"Another chamber, only this one will be where Lily must depart from our company."

"What do ya mean by that?" Tasuki asked a little angrily.

"Lily must free the gods on her own," Hikou replied. "We cannot travel with her for that reason. She will have a guide once she leaves us, but she will serve as nothing more than a guide."

Chichiri absorbed these words. "Hikou, is this other person-" he hesitated, "Kouran?"

There was a moment's silence, "Yes."

"Who's Kouran?" Lily asked, looking back to Chichiri and nearly tripping because of it.

The monk held back a laugh as Lily stumbled and regained her balance, wisely turning her gaze back in front of her. "She was my fiancée."

"Oh," was all Lily dared utter.

At that moment they entered another chamber bathed in a soft bluish-green light. In seconds the source of the light was found; a crystal like ball sat upon a pedestal, its top was curved like a bowl to keep the ball safely within it.

Hikou came to a stop and turned to face the ones following him. "Lily must go on from here." At her confused glance he gestured to the ball emitting the light, "Merely touch it and you will enter the realm in which Fenrir lurks."

"I- I don't think I can do this," Lily said fearfully. Since she had arrived she had been around Tasuki, with Chichiri joining soon after. She did not like the idea of having to go off on her own now, especially when the worst was yet to come.

Tasuki wrapped her in a hug, "You can too Lily."

"Now that I'm here- I'm frightened more than ever," she murmured into his shirt as she hugged him back.

"And if you weren't I'd be worried for ya," Tasuki said with a faint smile. Hesitantly he pulled her to arms length, "Be brave. Ya got Kouji's sword, and ya also have my…" he flushed crimson, "My- erm- my-" he stopped his stuttering when Lily kissed him on his cheek with her soft lips.

If it were possible the bandit leader blushed even darker than before. "Lily I- I-"

"It's alright Genrou," she smiled, "I think I- understand." She blushed and paused for a brief moment before saying the last word.

A gentle hand atop of her head made her turn and find Chichiri, who was smiling at her. "We all believe you can do it Lily, now all you have to do is believe in yourself."

"I'll do my best," Lily said softly, not sure how much her best implied.

Angry noises brought everyone attention to yet another problem. "The beasts have found our trail," Hikou half growled. "Get going Lily, we'll hold off this end so you'll be able to return safely."

Lily nodded, "Right." She gave Chichiri and Tasuki a hug, holding a little longer to the bandit leader than she did the monk. Next she moved to Hikou and smiled, "Thank you for everything."

"You're welcome," he responded, "Just don't to–" before he could finish the word he found her arms wrapped around his waist. Color quickly began to fill into him and she quickly became paler and paler. "Let go!" He struggled to remove her, but she wouldn't budge for a few moments, a point when she voluntarily pulled herself away.

"Lily," Tasuki said in worry. She looked extremely pale, but her spirits seemed as sharp as ever.

"I'm alright," she said with a smile, "A bit lightheaded is all." That was a lie, all she could see were stars for several moments and she had a painful headache.

"What did you do that for!" Hikou cried, "You need your strength to fight Fenrir!"

Lily looked to him, "You're alive again and I'm not dead," she said.

This was noted quickly by everyone else, but Hikou quickly dismissed it, "That's not the point."

"Course it is," Lily said softly. "The living fight better than the dead- well, ghosts anyway." She smiled, "Maybe in this state Fenrir won't go so hard and I'll be able to find a weakness." The idea of fighting the beast was still not keen in her mind, but she decided she had to sound as brave as she could so her friends wouldn't worry.

The angry noises they had heard before came again and this time they sounded much closer.

"Get going Lily," Chichiri said softly.

Lily nodded and ran to the ball. "Come back alive," Tasuki said just as her hand touched the light emitting ball, disappearing seconds later.

'Come back to me,' Tasuki thought as he took out his tessen, ready to do battle with whatever Fenrir would throw at them.

* * *

Aww. A wee bit of Tasuki and Lily going on :D But now they're separated :( Dang it.

Will Tasuki, Chichiri and Hikou survive the battle which they must endure? Will Lily succeed in her mission?

Please Review

Thanks!


	15. Chapter 15

I don't own FY

Sorry for the outrageously late update! I'm currently in college and the work load does get a bit cumbersome and I have to share my computer with my roommate (one of them moved out the end of last week). I'm going to try and update every three weeks from this week on, but I can't promise anything.

Thank you for reviewing:

**Booma-Chan**– Oy, I had assumed that my readers had seen the OVA's. Sorry. They made up in one of the OVA's, but I don't want to ruin it for you if you haven't seen it, the episode it a must see though! It's sooo good. It's one of my favorite episodes. Lol. Yes he was :)

**Crimson Firefox** - I'm evil like that. Lol. It's fun to make things like this. It might make you want to smack me, but it makes the story more fun. Sorry for the late update

**Pil-Z**– The way I pulled it off wasn't how I would have liked it to be, but it all makes sense before the end, you'll see. Hmmm. Lily croak gets an odd look for the main character 'I'm not a toad' Lol. Yes, doesn't it suck to notice things so late. How will I make things work? Or not work?

**Chichiri's Wanderer**– Lol. Yes you were. They definitely feels awkward, that's for sure. I suppose you do have to feel sorry for the monk, but no where near as much as in _Silent Hope_. Lol. I was just plain evil in my last update of that. As for Hikou, yes he is completely in the realm of the living.

**ElfPrincessKitty** – Lol. I'm a horrible person when it comes to cliff hangers XD Thank you! I'm really glad you like it and I hope it'll keep you until the end. Thank you again :) And Lily will be fighting Fenrir where she goes. If she will defeat him, die trying or die to defeat him will remain unknown until the right time comes is feeling evil

**Akari kitsune**– Ah, yes I did. Sorry, it's taking longer than I thought, but that'll become clear soon, promise. And thank you. I'm glad you're liking both stories.

You know what I just realized, I'm really mean to my main characters -.-;; Especially my heroine from my original story (the bottom of my bio will have link to my deviant art account in a few days if you want to see the picture referring to what I mean, be warned that if you do wish to go through the link that a vast majority of my things aren't on the site because they're at home XP I have to see it this site accepts having the link though. I changed my bio, but it has yet to show the change)

* * *

Chapter 15

It seemed as if everything had suddenly swirled away from her and she was being pushed through a turbulent space where vibrant colors pierced an otherwise dark space. There seemed to be no air to breath, yet she had no problems doing the function regularly and she floated as if in space, yet there felt to be some form of gravity locked onto her.

Over all the phenomena of traveling to the land of the gods was a strange one, one she doubted she would ever be able to explain.

'Genrou….'

vvvv

Tasuki gripped his tessen tightly, so much so that his knuckles began turning white. His jaw was clenched tightly, his fangs glistening slightly in what light filled the room, and his eyes shown with a ferocity that hadn't been found there since the war between Konan and Kutou had broken out two years before.

Chichiri stood next to him, holding his staff firmly, ready to cast a spell as soon as it was necessary. His reddish-brown eye shown with anticipation and uneasiness as he looked into the darkness just beyond the chamber they occupied.

Hikou stood with his front facing the monk but his head facing the entrance, an agitated look was evident on his face, but he was ready to fight. While he bore no weapon the moisture on the stone floor and the pool of water scarcely seen at the back of the room, the vast majority of it disappearing beneath the wall into an underground river, shifted about slightly. It was as if it knew it was to become a weapon within moments.

"Remember you two have limited use of your powers now," Hikou told the two seshi's.

"At least until Suzaku is freed," Chichiri said.

"But we don't know how long that will take," Hikou pointed out.

"I 'ave faith in Lily," Tasuki said between his teeth. He wasn't angry at them, he was simply geared up for the battle about to commence.

Chichiri nodded, "We all do."

The sound of claws scrapping on stone came to meet their ears. The creatures were not far away now and would soon be upon them.

"Any idea how many we're up against?" Tasuki asked.

"Not a clue," was the response he got from Hikou.

"Heh, doesn't matter anyway," the bandit smirked. Shifting his feet he made himself ready.

Glowing eyes of different shades came into the view of the three fighters. Loud growling and hissing greeted their ears along with the scratching of nails.

"Ready yourselves," Hikou half commanded as he crouched deeper into his knees to further ready himself for the action to come.

Tasuki clenched his tessen tighter. 'Take care of yourself Lily.'

vvvv

Before she knew it she was standing in a brightly lit stone chamber. White flamed torches flickered in a breeze she did not feel. The room seemed bland in décor, yet it held an aura of power, as if some great being had visited the place in the past.

"Where am I?" she asked herself aloud.

"In the home of Byakko of course," a mysterious voice said from behind her. Whipping around she came to see a translucent woman in her late teens looking at her with a soft smile. Her long hair was done up in a high ponytail and soft eyes glistening in the torch light. "I've been waiting for you."

Lily pointed to herself, "Me?" When the young woman nodded she asked, "Are you Kou- Kour- ah what did Hikou say your name was?"

The young woman laughed gently, "Kouran."

"Oh, right. Sorry," she apologized, giving a nervous smile.

"It's alright," Kouran told her, "But come, we have much to do."

"And not a lot of time to do it in," Lily added as she followed Kouran through a large pair of wooden doors. "Genrou, Hikou and Chichiri have to fight a mass of creatures on the other side to keep it safe for my return."

"Oh my," Kouran gasped, "Than we really must hurry. Fenrir will be unrelenting upon them." Her eyes showed a pain unrelated to that however, something she wished to try and hide.

"Did I say something wrong?" Lily asked.

Kouran looked at her in shock, but quickly realized she had let her emotions be seen. "No, it's alright."

"Does it have anything to do with Chichiri, or- what was his other name- Hojin?"

Kouran laughed once again, "Houjun."

"Sorry," she apologized again, "I'm so bad with names sometimes."

"I think everyone is," Kouran smiled.

Silence befell the two women as they walked down the corridor, the torches acting as their only light source. It seemed strange that a god would have such an ordinary way of lighting his residence, but then again torches usually weren't blue in color, which meant they had to be enchanted in some sort of way.

"Do you think he knows I'm here?" Lily asked, her voice sounding anxious. She played with the tail of the belt nervously as she awaited an answer, not sure if she really wanted to hear it.

Kouran did not answer right away. "I would not doubt it."

Lily sighed and placed her hand on her head. If she thought her headache had been bad before this was by far worse. It felt as if an explosion had ripped across her mind, but instead of destroying what was in its path it was torturing it horribly. She had been trying to ignore it, but with the powerful aura and knowing of the great strife to come very soon the feat seemed impossible.

"Are you alright?" Kouran asked while looking at her from over her shoulder.

Lily shook her head and closed her eyes, trying to will her migraine away. Her eyes snapped open when she walked into something. That something turned out to be Kouran, who was now facing her.

"What's wrong?" the worried ghostly woman asked.

"Really bad headache," Lily replied softly. She then realized something, "You're not surprised I bumped into you?"

Kouran gave her a confused look, but quickly smiled, "No, I supposed I figured a hero of gods would have such an ability."

"I'm no hero," Lily softly said, hand still clutching her head.

"Hero is merely a term given to those who do tasks others are unable or unwilling to do," Kouran smiled. "And it is best when those with the title do not desire it, it means they are not over confident, or ego bound."

Lily gave a small smile, "I guess."

Kouran motioned forward, "Come, let us keep moving. Perhaps the fresh air will make you feel better."

"Right," Lily said as she followed Kouran once more. 'She's so sweet,' she thought. 'No wonder Chichiri loves her.'

Sighing she placed her hand back at her side, 'I have to do this.' Her headache seemed to think otherwise, but she could not run now, especially because of a headache, even if it hurt her greatly.

'Stay alive all of you,' a tear rolled down her cheek, 'Stay safe Genrou. 'With one finger Lily removed the tear from her face and with a flick of her hand it was sent flying behind her.

The tear sparkled brightly as it flew through the air. It seemed as if the tear had a power of it own giving it light, as not even the torches could have eliminated it so. As it hit the ground it let out a ray of light, momentarily filling the area of the corridor with artificial sunlight.

It was such a miraculous thing, but not a soul gave witness to it.

* * *

As one battle begins another in on the brink of doing so. Does the tear mean anything? Will the boys be alright? Will Lily make it back alive?

Find out as the story progresses.

Please review.

Thanks!


	16. Chapter 16

I don't own FY

Ah, let me clear something up for all you confused by something in the last chapter; Lily bumping into Kouran. It was an immediate action, hit and let go. Any color gained would have been so minute it wouldn't have been noticeable. Hikou had gain color because Lily had held onto his arm (the first occurrence) for an extended amount of time. Is that a good explanation? (It was a good question to ask _Akari kitsune_ So thanks).

Thanks for reviewing:

**Akari kitsune**– Yey for the tear. Lol. That'll be explained in due time. I hope my little blurb up above helped answer that question.

**Chichiri's Wanderer**– You do realize I love making horrid twists in my stories right? Maybe not, I haven't done much of them in this story, but I do from time to time in my other ones. So who knows, I might just do the same here. –laughs evilly…. cough- Yep, the tear has meaning, it'll be explained soon enough, so I will not spoil it for anyone. Lol. I'm not stopping either of my stories until the end. Which this one is coming close to... not exactly sure how many chapters are left though :P

**Boomishkittish**** – **The OVA's are the sequal's so to speak. They're after the second season (meaning after episode 52). They're known as Oni and Eikoden (there are two OVA's). If you've met Hikou in the anime then you've seen the first OVA, if you've seen the ones where Tasuki has long hair (in a ponytail) then you've seen the second OVA. Good questions, but I'll leave the story to answer them :D

**ChirikoFan**** –** Thank you. I'm glad so many people are enjoying it :) You need not wait anymore… for this chapter anyway. Lol.

**Pil-Z**– I'm very good at that (cliffhangers I mean). Lol. It'll be mentioned soon enough.

**Crimson Firefox **– Thank you and sorry. I know I'm updating later than I normally do, but I'm a freshmen in college now and while I don't get homework in every class here what HW I do get is long (ex: 30-40 pages of reading for art history a week) and I have to share my computer with my roommate (not that I mind, it's just that I don't want 'hog' it). If I do get chapters done early I will update, but most of the time I'm writing them in pieces and don't get to proof reading them until a Friday night or some time Saturday or Sunday (that's if I don't need to finish writing them).

**bant**– Thank you. Sorry for the delay, but I do hope you like this chapter as much as the last ones.

**BlueMeteorGirl**– Hmm… what did it do. Lol. I know, but I'm not spoiling it. You find out soon enough :)

**Dimonah Tralon**– Thank you! Ya, college can have it days (or weeks) were I have to cry "Gah! Be over already!" Lol.

* * *

**Chapter 16**

Hauntingly dark clouds filled the sky, lightning blared across it in an almost unnatural way, followed by the roaring of the beastly thunder. Wind ripped through the air as if a hurricane was passing through. The vegetation was all but alive, all the trees that had once stood tall and proud now lay on their sides as if beggars to the storm.

Gloom filled the air like an unrelenting beast spent upon stealing the joy of anyone who entered its lair. Hatred intermixed with the treacherous beast and was all to ready to fill those who had lost their happiness with such bitterness they had never before felt.

The realm of the gods had been tainted and twisted into a nightmarish place.

A shiver ran down Lily's spine as she came to witness the full effects of Fenrir's dominance in the realm. Never had she thought things would be so horrid, but now she was face to face with the truth of it all.

"What would have happened had I gone home?" Lily asked herself aloud.

"Terrible things," Kouran replied with a saddened look as she too took in the scene playing out before them. "The state of this would have spread out to the other one. Chaos would run rampant and soon everything would fall out of the natural order."

Lily cast her eyes to the floor, letting pieces of her hair fall into her face as the wind ripped at it, "And it still could."

"I don't think so," Kouran told her with a smile, "I believe you can do as the gods wish."

Thunder crashed above their head, bringing their attention to it for a moment. Sighing Kouran motioned for Lily to follow her, "Come, there is still a ways to go before we can begin thinking of the end."

vvvv

Those glowing eyes that belonged to the enemy became more than just a fierce gaze as their bearers came into the light made by the crystal ball Lily has disappeared through. The greenish sway of the light gave the creatures an ire look, but at least it allowed the three warriors to see their adversaries.

The creatures turned out to be different in size and shape. Some were like the lizard that had attacked Hikou back in the tunnel, others were wolfs with their sharp teeth glistening viciously in the light, and some were even great beast of the wilderness, the tigers.

Cursing Tasuki raised his fan and was about to say the enchantments to unleash the power of his tessen when Chichiri stopped him. "Don't use your energy yet!" he yelled at him as he brought the base of his staff down upon a lizards head before it had the chance to bite him. "Conserve it for as long as you can!"

Growling the bandit leader knew his friend was right. Taking his tessen from it position above his head he brought it down upon the back of a wolf after stepping to the side to evade being bitten or clawed. "This is going to be harder than I thought," he growled as he swatted another wolf with his tessen. "If they were human this would be easier."

"It's not supposed to be easy," Hikou half growled as he launched a water assault at a few of the offending beasts, knocking them off balance for only a moment. "Fenrir wants us dead."

Chichiri side stepped to evade a tiger's bite, but did not completely evade a claw as it skimmed by his leg. Flipping his staff in his hands he smashed it as hard as he could into the back of the beast's neck, both stunning and knocking it to the ground. "He won't get his way if we have anything to say about it."

"Lily'll tell him that for us," Tasuki half cried as he once again brought his tessen down upon an offending beast.

vvvvv

Sighing heavily Lily hugged herself in an attempt to keep her calm in the unpleasant world of the gods. The atmosphere of the place was starting to penetrate into her very soul and it was making her very uneasy.

"Hold on Lily," Kouran said as she looked over her shoulder at the girl. "You've made it this far already, don't give in so easily now."

Nodding Lily rubbed her arms as if cold and continued forward at the same pace she had been. 'I need to do this,' she reminded herself. How she was going to end it all she wasn't sure. She had never before battled, nor had she ever shown any great amounts of courage required for such a heroic feat, but, somehow, she was going to have to make it all work in her benefit.

Rubbing her head she began to wonder if making Hikou alive once more was such a wise decision. Her head ached badly and the unpleasant feeling of the realm was not helping it any. If anything the constant bombardment of unhappiness and hatred on her body was causing her even more pain. Perhaps she should have listened to Hikou and waited…

Looking up to Kouran she wondered it she would live through the ordeal to help Kouran as she had Hikou. It would be most unfair if she had to remain a spirit when two of her most trusted friends were now alive. 'I'll have to do something about that before the end.'

"How much further is it Kouran?"

The spirit came to a stop and turned to her, a weary smile playing on her face. "We're here."

"Wha-" the question could not be finished as suddenly a tall looming building appeared before them. The black of the stone complemented the dark sky and down cast emotions of the world. The mere appearance of it sent a shiver down her spine. It held the pain, misfortune, anger and sadness of the entrapped gods.

"Byakko and the others must be locked in there," Lily said as she clutched her hands near her breast in worry.

"Undoubtedly so," Kouran replied as she looked over her shoulder at the building. "Such an unpleasant place would be the most dreadful prison for any and all of the gods."

"Something Fenrir would enjoy," Lily added softly.

Kouran nodded, but quickly sighed. "I'm afraid this is where I depart in the journey."

"Huh?"

"I've played my part," she told her, "The rest is now up to you."

Lily bowed her head and sighed, "Why must I do this alone?"

"Hey," Kouran came to stand in front of her, causing the girl to lift her head, "You're never truly alone so long as you hold your friends dear," Kouran told her with a smile. "That is something I have learned in death."

Lily smiled softly, "Thank you."

A nod was all Kouran replied with for the subject. "Now go get Fenrir for us all."

"Right," Lily nodded.

Looking up at the building she could have sworn she could hear the malice filled laughter of Fenrir within the fierce wind that blew across the desecrated lands.

* * *

So Lily is really on her own now. Will she even make it through the building to fight Fenrir?

Find out in the next chapter.

Please review

Thank you!


	17. Chapter 17

I don't own FY

Sorry for the late update. Even though it is in the 3 weeks I usually promise I had meant to type this chapter up and post it last week. Unfortunately though my college was evacuated due to hurricane Wilma (don't worry, it turns out my area got little to nothing from it because it turned a lot and hit southern Florida) and the weekend I meant to use to write it was spent elsewhere. Sorry again!

Thanks for reviewing :

**Akari kitsune**– Of course. I always answer my reviews :) We shall see :)

**Crimson Firefox **– Thank you. Lol.

**ChirikoFan**– Woot. But I could make an twist has done that in past stories Lol. Thank you.

**Boomishkittish**– lol. Their good… confusing at first, but good. No problem :) No you're not. I could find Eikoden on my DVD for a month :P Ah well. When I did I was overly please :) Thank you. I've been working on how I describe things and I'm glad I got some positive feedback about it.

**Dimonah Tralon**– Thank you and I'll do my best to.

**Chichiri's Wanderer**– Thank you. Lol. If only things were that simple. I meant to, but events beyond my control prevented me from doing so.

**BlAcKeSt StAr CaTcHeR**– Aw, thank you. Oi, don't be jealous, honestly I'm not all that good.

**bant**– Thank you and I'm glad you like it :)

**Ayriel**- :) Thank you. Yey for hot topless guys taking a bath :D

**Pil-Z** – Cliffies are always fun :) Agreed. Lily needs all the help she can get based on her personality. Sorry for the delay.

**BlueMeteorGirl**– Sorry. I really meant to update last week.

**Diana-sama **– Thank you and I'm glad I made Lily for people to like. Ya, Mary-sues seem to be very common. While some are written well, most make me roll my eyes.

**Gammergirl**– Yep and it's fun for everyone, no? And so we shall soon see it.

**KKat **– Lol. This chapter might cure some of that…or cause it to grow even more :D

* * *

**Chapter 17**

Cold, dark, damp and musty. Those were the four words Lily could think of as she walked through the massive raven colored building that could easily be called a castle.

She could barely see her hand in front of her face, but she was forced to walk through the thick vale of shadow. One hand glided across the wall as it acted as her guide, the other hand rested uneasily on the hilt of her sword. If something were to attack her she would have a difficult time fending it off, especially if it turned out to be Fenrir.

Shivering she knew Fenrir had the advantage in this darkness, but she also knew there was nothing she could do about it. She did not have a torch, nor a match; in fact she did not have the comfort of any source light.

"Now I think I understand how the blind feel," she muttered to herself.

Something scurried by her feet, causing her to shriek and nearly jump out of her skin. Nervously she pressed herself against the wall, hoping beyond hope that it was nothing wanting to spill her blood.

Two tiny eyes peered out at her for somewhere beyond her. Sighing Lily rest her head on the wall, "Just a rat." She wanted to laugh at herself, but knew the stupidity of such a thing given her predicament. The small creature that frightened her was better off in the darkness of the building than she was, for it could see in the dark.

Turning herself back in the direction she had been traveling Lily began her trek once more. There was not much time and she could not spend any of it dawdling. It was better to get lost than to sit in the darkness, since getting lost might actually lead her to her desired destination.

Those glowing eyes of the rat seemed to snicker at her back before scurrying off.

vvvv

Fenrir gazed humorously at the ball of energy before him. Within the energy sat the image of Lily walking through his corridors, a frightened but vaguely determined look on her face.

A mere rat had startled the girl greatly in the darkness of his dwelling. If such a thing bothered her how was she to last in a fight against him, a powerful god, or so he declared himself to be. He was not a simple little critter to be found lurking in the darkness, he was a great beast found moments before his victims death.

"This weak excuse of a child hopes to beat me?" Fenrir chuckled horridly. "What will she do, try to get me to sympathize with her. Those gods have finally showed just how brainless they truly are." He roared with laughter, a laughter so filled with malice that even a great hero would quiver in fright, if not soil themselves.

vvvv

Tasuki nearly lost his balance as a wolf leapt at him. Growling he managed to get the beast away from him, but not before earning a clean swipe to his chest. With a cringe he took a step back, evading another assault.

"You alright Tasuki?" Chichiri asked as he fended off a lizard with his staff.

"Just a damned scratch," Tasuki answered with a growl. Raising his fan high into the air he smashed it down upon a wolf's head as it lunged at him with jaws agape.

That 'damned scratch' was more than he let on and the monk knew it, but it was neither the time nor place to bring up such an argument. Water zipping by his face to smack into a tiger reminded him that Hikou was battling next to him. "Will there be an end to this before Lily's ends the battle with Fenrir?" he asked, feeling his own limbs beginning to tire from the fierce battle.

"Most likely not," Hikou responded as he side stepped to easily evade a wolf. "Fenrir has been expecting resistance for quite some time. He is more than prepared to have us battle for days."

A tiger's mighty paw nearly ripped the bandit leader's tessen from his hands, but even though it had stayed where it was meant to his muscles were sorely unhappy. Gritting his teeth he brought his fan back upwards, hitting the tiger in the jaw as he did so.

Bodies of stunned, dead or dying animals littered the ground of the cavern. Blood and sweat filled the air with their pungent aromas. The smell seemed even worse due to the already damp smell of the cavern and the lack of ventilation which allowed all the odors to sit within the chamber.

Chichiri took a hasty step backwards to evade a wolf lunging at him from the side, but in doing so he tripped over a stunned lizard and fell to his behind. Cringing from the hard impact with the stone floor he failed to notice the same wolf about to leap upon him, until it was too late that is.

A stream of water crashed into the wolf, knocking it to the cavern floor when it was mere centimeters from the off guard monk. Giving a quick glance at his friend Hikou turned back to defending himself.

Climbing to his feet with great haste Chichiri was sure to thank Hikou before entering the battle once more. His kesa was slight torn from the creatures claws and his pants even has some scratches and blood, his own and the animals, on them.

Limbs were aching and bodies were tiring, but quitting was out of the question. They had to hold the area for Lily's safe return.

They had to fight to stay alive.

vvv

Lily nearly tripped over her own feet for the umpteenth. Her body was beginning to feel trapped in the darkness that enveloped her. Breathing was even becoming difficult with each moment she spent in the place.

"This is – worse than – a – haunted house," she muttered to herself between breaths. In her mind she knew that if ever the place were to become a haunted house it would win all prized for being most creepy and being able to frighten even the strongest of men.

Keeping her hand firmly on the wall next to her she kept her pace forward. She knew there was no time to delay, but her body badly wanted to sit and relax, even if the darkness would be around her all the while. Knowing that however prevented her mind from accepting what her body wanted, for it wanted to get out of there, but knew it could not until their duty was finished.

Her mind was jarred from it's thoughts as her body smacked into something very solid. Rubbing her forehead she groaned in pain and frustration.

This just was not her week.

Shaking her head to clear it she placed her hands out in front of her and tried to decipher what the object was. She couldn't tell anything for several moments, but she withdrew her hands quickly when a cold object touched her hands. When nothing further happened she hesitantly put her arms back out.

She nearly laughed at herself when she figured out the cold object had been a handle of sorts. Taking an extra moment she realized that it was a handle to a door and that there were two handles, which meant there was a pair of double doors before her.

Pushing on them she found they would not budge. Her brows came together in frustration. She could go back, but if she did that she ran the risk of treading on the path she had taken to get where she currently was, something her time restraints just did not allow.

Positioning herself against the door properly she pushed upon them with all her might. Strained noised emerged from between her tightly clenched jaw as she desperately to make the doors budge.

Suddenly there was nothing in front of her and she fell flat on her face.

Shock and pain consumed her body. One minute there had been a pair of unmoving doors before her, then next there was nothing. That was truly very odd.

Groaning she picked herself up enough to be sitting on her knees. Bringing a hand up to her hurting face she felt a warm sticky substance streaming down from her nose. With a pained sigh she was thankful her nose was not broken, but wished the pain to go away as she pinched the bridge of her nose in an attempt to stop the bleeding.

This really wasn't her week.

After taking in a deep breath she brought her gaze upward. Her breath caught in her throat as she came to witness something she should have been prepared for - two bright blue eyes on the other end of the chamber. She knew who it was, those eyes were unmistakable.

"Fenrir…"

* * *

And so it all begins. What'll happen now? With the guys last in their battle? Will Lily survive hers?

Please review

Thanks!

Happy Halloween!


	18. Chapter 18

I don't own FY

I'm back a week earlier than normal :) Yey!

Thanks for reviewing:

**Dimonah Tralon**– Cliffies are fun :) Thank you. We'll see as the story continues. Thank you again.

**BlAcKeSt StAr CaTcHeR**– Lol. Thank you. Well it's good that it missed you and I'm glad Wilma missed my school. It would have sucked it the place got flooded. Lol. We shall see that is always true.

**D.D.Z.**– And I have and will continue to do so… even if I have to stare blankly at the screen XP I did that for at least an hour yesterday for this story. Lol. But hey, staring blankly gave me good ideas for this XD

**Boomishkittish**– Lol. But that would be too useful. Hmm, maybe he will. They are in a battle were they have to watch each others backs after all…. Define 'alright.' Lol.

**Pil-Z**– I have been damned...damned to what? thinks to write this story… wait, that's not a bad thing. Woot! I've been given a good damn. Lol. That sounds like an oxymoron. But I like cliffies pouts They're so much fun to write.

**BlueMeteorGirl**– We'll see how they all come out in the end… if they survive that long. Aw, thanks :D

**Chichiri's Wanderer**– Lol. That was blunt. But will I make everything end up like that? Aw, he doesn't hate you…he's frightened of you. Just kidding! Ick. Homework sucks.

**Crimson Firefox **– Lol. Cliffies are fun, ne?

**fushigiyugigirl3**– Thank you. Lol. Yep, yep. I've updated early :)

* * *

_**Chapter 18**_

'Oh no!' Lily's mind cried as she realized who was in the room with her. She should have been prepared. In fact she had tried her best to do so, but now that she was within yards of him any preparations she had attempted to make had fled into the darkness surrounding her.

Her injured nose was now forgotten, even if blood continued to slide down to her chin whereupon it fell in droplets to stain her clothing. That was the least of her worries at the moment, something she knew all to well.

'How can I fight him?' her mind asked in a panic. Her sight was just as deplorable as it had been moments ago, but her uneasiness had increased ten fold. To making matters worse her body shook with terror and seemed rooted to the floor. She found herself wishing someone was by her side now, even if it was someone who could not fight, such as Kouran, or even her best friend from home Cathy.

Sadistic laughter from the other end of the room made her realize, much to her dismay, that Fenrir was horribly amused by her state. Why shouldn't he be? She was injured and trembling in fright before the battle had even begun.

'I'm going to die,' her mind cried in sheer horror.

vvvv

Kouran stood outside the massive building gazing up at it with worry ever present on her face. She felt sorry for the girl the gods had chosen to aid them. She did not seem ready for such a massive task, but was being thrown head long into it anyway.

It just did not seem right.

She wished she could have followed Lily in. Even if she could not fight, something she would not even think of arguing, she would have liked being able to offer comfort to girl in her time of need. With a sigh she cursed Fenrir and his magic surrounding the place.

All she could do was pray Lily would be alright and wait for her to return.

vvvv

Hikou lost his footing and fell onto his back as a tiger leapt upon him, claws shoving deep within his shoulders. Cringing and making a pained hiss like noise he knew he was trapped and that there was little that he could do about it. Even if he managed to use a water attack and dislodged the creature, its claws would only rip at more of his flesh and perhaps render him unable to battle.

Growling low within its throat the tiger revealed its many sharp teeth, as if it was trying to intimidate its prey. It's breath reeked and undoubtedly had swarms bacteria within its very saliva, something that could prove deadly if it even got off one minor bite.

With a growl its claws dug deeper into his shoulders, causing the trapped man to cringe and cry out in pain. Not a moment latter a loud _thwack_ was heard and the tiger roared loudly as it turned its mighty head.

Chichiri stood there with his staff out, confirming that he had in fact been the one to anger the beast more that it already was. A large scratch running from his right cheek bone to his lip bled profusely, but he paid little heed to it now that his attention was centered on the tiger glaring at him.

Unaware of the wolf that crept up behind him Chichiri found himself being saved by Tasuki. The moment of diverted attention however proved unintelligent, as the tiger took that time to release its current victim and pounce on the monk.

This time its claws dug deep into Chichiri's chest and its sharp teeth made ready to bite down upon his face. Only one thing stopped it, something that made it howl in pain and run about frantically to stop the searing of its flesh, a simple, but deadly, cry of "rekka shien" from the bandit leader.

The act had saved Chichiri's life, but had used up a fair amount of what strength the bandit had left. Panting heavily he turned back to the battle as the two other men quickly climbed to their feet to help him.

If the battle went on for too much longer none of them would survive to tell the tale.

vvvv

Lily bit her lip harder than she had intended, causing it to bleed and throb unhappily. That made two injuries before the battle had started. On top of that her legs were starting to complain about the position they were in, but her body would not move despite that fact.

What a horrible mess she was.

Fenrir's eyes suddenly stopped glowing and nothing but the blackness could be seen. A panicked squeak escaped Lily as she looked around desperately trying to find the dark god like being. Her eyes, however, were not accustomed to the dark, unlike those of Fenrir's. He could see her perfectly, down to the very trembling her body did as she helplessly looked about for him.

A chuckle threatened to emerge from his throat as he watched her, but he managed to restrain himself. Why give away the fun of having her not know where he was?

So he instead took pleasure in watching the frightened girl. Perhaps she would die of fright before he actually had to get his hands dirty, not that he would have minded, but the other way seemed much more entertaining.

Lily swallowed hard and closed her eyes. She had to pull herself together. Sitting on the ground was not going to help her when the fighting began and it definitely would not help calm her nerves.

'I'm a sitting duck right now,' she told herself. 'It's better to be a moving target than stupid sitting duck.' Her attempts at motivating herself were not working, if anything they caused her body to tremble even more.

Raising her arm to her mouth she bit down hard upon it, her canines even drew blood. As to be expected it hurt like mad, but it did accomplish one thing - her body flinched.

It was a start, a hilarious one that Fenrir could not stop himself from laughing at. "At the rate you're going girl you're going to kill yourself before I do."

Lily found herself glaring in the direction the voice had come from. She did not know why she was glaring, she was deathly afraid of the shadow beast, but her subconscious seemed to think otherwise. 'Perhaps that's the part that come out,' she thought with an uneasy frown.

'_Hey, stop being lazy. Get your butt up'_. The sudden voice in her head caught her off guard. At first she thought she was going insane from all the fright and stress that she had been forced to endure, but she came to recognize the voice when her mind calmed down enough to think it over.

'_Lily'_ the voice whined. _'Common, get up."_ It was Cathy. The voice was unmistakable now that she listened to it. Her friend has always been at her to go places with her, even if she wanted nothing more than to hide from the world in the safety of her bedroom.

'So even now she's at me,' Lily smiled faintly. 'She wants me to get up and do what I have to – what I came here to do.'

'_Take care out there,'_ Kouji's voice was next to enter her mind, only to be followed by Taiitsukun's. '_Hope is like a thread, one single strand cannot make anything useful, but when joined with others it can become something wonderful.' _The ribbon the wise old woman had given her on behalf of Byakko was tied to the end of her braided hair. Amazingly she could see it fairly well through the darkness as she pulled it to the front of her. Perhaps the hope of others was represented within it and it glowed to trying and give her courage.

She suddenly found that her body was willing to move now and she began to climb to her feet, ignoring the pain in her legs caused by sitting on them for too long.

'_It's alright to be afraid,' _Chichiri had told her back when they were at Taiitsukun's. '_You just can't give up hope before you even get started.'_ He was right. She couldn't give up before she even started fighting Fenrir.

Her knees straitened out and her back started to do the same.

'_Be brave. Ya got Kouji's sword, and ya also have my - erm- my-' _His unfinished words lingered in her mind. She could assume what he had wanted to finish the sentence with by his actions, but it was just an assumption. Still, even if he had not intended to fit the word in that she had thought of, a deep feeling of some sort was there, it was just waiting to be expressed.

She body came to stand completely upright. Her friends, people who cared greatly for her, were relying on her. She could not let them down, especially after all that they had done for her in the past.

This was her time to repay them.

"Fenrir," her voice called out into the darkness with determination, but a bit of fright was still heard in her voice. "I may be afraid of you, no, I know I am afraid of you, but I can't let you win."

The beast of shadow raised a brow, "And who is to stop me? You? You are nothing but a girl, a whiny, frightened and annoying little girl who is barely worth my time."

Lily smiled, "But I am worth enough to take it apparently."

The smart-aleck remark earned a growl from her enemy, a very unfriendly one at that. Without warning he made his move, the first move of the final battle.

This move, unfortunately, went just as Fenrir planned. It caught Lily completely off guard and gave her a bruised cheek. Something quickly complemented by bruised limbs, and scrapped skin as she was thrown to the floor by the attacks momentum.

While the battle had just begun Lily was already feeling more than a little abused and the courage that had swelled within her moments before was quickly fading now that she realized just how much trouble she was in.

* * *

Ouch. Poor Lily. The same goes for the guys too. Will Lily be able to defeat Fenrir? More importantly, will she be able to defeat him in time to save the guys? At the rate things are going neither seem likely.

Please review

Thank you!


	19. Chapter 19

I don't own FFY

Sorry for the LONG delay guys! I meant to work on this over Thanksgiving, but I hadn't the time because I was spending the time with family. After that I completely lost track of time because I had only two weeks left of school and teachers were throwing things at us to do and I accidentally discovered a program on my computer to make music video's and got stuck on that for two or three days (not a good thing since I had a big test to study for). But I am now home for winter break and I plan to try and update once a week (can't promise anything though since I'm back to working.)

Thank you for reviewing:

**Ayriel**– I'm sorry. The chapters are as long as they are just because that is how my thoughts flow. I don't measure out how many pages a chapter should be, I just write until I feel I have reached a good place to stop (my evil cliff hanger-ness. Lol). And I'm sorry for the delay!

**BlAcKeSt StAr CaTcHeR**– Maybe… -smirks evilly- Sorry for the delay!

**Pil-Z**– my sentiments exactly. Lol. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. We'll see with which I chose. –looks at club with a nervous laugh- I might just end up being hit won't I. Sorry for the delay!

**Chichiri's Wanderer**– is that so -brings back all the characters with a simple sentence or two- Lol. Let us see :)

**5 more minutes.A.K.A.BoomishKittish**- We'll see soon enough. Lol. Thanks. Is that so? (I kinda like him to actually…) Well, you can tell me what you think about him after this chapter. Yey for spiffy-ness. Lol

**Akuzmi **– Cliffies are so much fun :D Thank you! Sorry for the delay!

* * *

**Chapter 19**

Lily felt jolts of pain coursing through her body, a feeling caused from her injuries, particularly her cheek where she felt a hearty bruise already forming. Her nose was once again making itself known as blood continued to leak down her face and was deeply unhappy with her at the moment. She strongly doubt that her body had ever felt so dreadful and that was counting the one time she was so sick for a week that she did not even want to move an inch.

Even if she could not see it she knew Fenrir was smirking at her, but why shouldn't he be? Her body was already feeling worn out and she had yet to fight back. On normal occasions she would have long ago backed off or, rather, would have long ago run and hid in her room where no one would disturb her. But this was not a normal occasion. No, this is, in fact, very different than anything she ever had to face in her short eighteen years of life.

To make matters worse, not that they needed to be, it remained pitch black in the chamber. While Lily was fortunate enough to be able to see Fenrir's glowing eyes she was still at a fast disadvantage because she could not even see her hand if front of her face, let alone Fenrir's body, but he could see her perfectly.

Picking herself up she did her best to stand tall, something that would give the illusion of bravery and strength, but found her body would only comply as far as getting her onto her feet. She clenched her jaw to hold back a cry of pain as all her muscles tightened in a painful manner from her movement.

Before she knew it a sharp tug came upon her hair and her back was forced to arch in an attempt to keep her hair attached to her scalp. This time she could not hold back a sharp yelp of pain. Her hands shot to her hair and she tried to wrench it from Fenrir's clutches, but his grasp was too strong.

Whining noises were emitted from the helpless girl as she endured the pain of having her hair nearly being ripped from her head. From how much her back was arched she felt as if she were about to fall upon the ground, but her body somehow managed to keep itself up.

Her whining came to an abrupt stop as a fist came crashing down upon her stomach. The wind was knocked from her lungs and this time her legs did give out, sending her back on a crash course with the cold, hard ground, her hair still locked in Fenrir's ever tight grasp.

"You are nothing that a weak excuse of a human, never mind a brainless girl who is easily manipulated by those craven gods I have rid this feeble world of," Fenrir sneered as Lily tried to fill her lungs back with precious air. "I am this world's god now. Nothing and no one is going to change that."

With a sharp tug on the hair in his hand Lily's head was forced upwards so she could feel his hot and sticky breath upon her face. "This world will know fear like they have never before felt. They will obey me alone and those who oppose will face a painful death." He smirked and chuckled vilely, "You and your pathetic friends will be my prime example."

This caught Lily's un-diverted attention. She had not forgotten her friends and had known full well that they were in danger as she walked within the realm of the gods. But the way Fenrir was speaking about them was aggravating. He spoke as if their lives meant nothing; that they're only meaning for existence was to be his sacrificial lambs. It was not right, nor was it fair. Chichiri and Tasuki had fought to save their beloved world two years before and now it was falling back into darkness because of an egotistical wanna-be god.

"You're- a- parasite," she managed to get out between gasps for breath and constant surges of pain.

A tug on her hair caused her to yelp loudly and begin whining once again. "I might be a parasite girl, but I am a deadly one. I spread darkness and fear with my coming –"

"And fade- into- little- more than- a note in- history- with- your- passing," Lily cut him off as she painfully forced the words through clenched teeth.

The remark earned her a sharp kick in her side, one that broke a few ribs and once again knocked the air from her body. She would have rolled harshly on the ground for several feet if it had not been for her hair still locked in the beast's hand. So instead her body moved as far it was allowed before she was abruptly stopped and felt countless hair follicles detach from her already sore scalp.

"I will become a legend when I choose to leave," Fenrir nearly yelled in anger.

Lily struggled to get air back into her lungs. Her entire body was in extraordinary pain, but there was nothing she could do about it. She was trapped and was at the mercy of a merciless wanna-be god.

vvvv

The battle between the three men and the fierce creatures controlled by Fenrir raged on with the same intensity as when it had begun, but, unfortunately, the three men were quickly growing weak while the beasts remained ever strong. It was a problem that could not go unheeded, yet had no solution other than Lily defeating the beast taking refuge in the world of the gods.

Tasuki was in the worst shape when compared to his friends. Having used his god-given powers to save Chichiri an ample amount of energy had been stripped from him. Now the battle was more than a struggle to hold out for Lily, it was a struggle to keep his energy up and not collapse helplessly to the cavern's ground.

Chichiri was little better off. He had managed to evade using his seshi abilities, but the battle was beginning to take a toll on his body. His chest pained him greatly because of the tiger's assault upon him, but he forced himself onward. His muscles were sore and his entire body ached. The once crisp movements of his staff were becoming sloppy and only hold enough power to barely fend off anything attacking him.

Even Hikou, one not bound to the energy's from any of the gods, was tiring from the intense battle. His reactions were slowing down and the power behind his attacks were quickly fading, much like the strength within his body. His face was scrunched up in concentration as he tried to call upon the energy he greatly needed, but it did little to aid him.

Everything was beginning to look hopeless, but they held onto what hope they could. They believed in Lily, believed that she could save not just them, but their world. And it was because of this belief that they found strength within themselves to continue.

vvvv

Pain was all Lily's body could register as it lay on the cold and hard ground of the unbearably dark palace belonging to Fenrir. Tears were beginning to brim in her eyes as it all became too much for her to bear. She felt helpless and useless.

'What did the gods think they were doing?' her mind somehow asked itself through the pain.

There seemed no way out of her given situation. Had she a knife she was sure she could end the pain simply enough-

Suddenly she remembered Kouji's sword. It was still resting at her side, luckily it was the one that was not pinned to the ground and was easily accessible. With a haste that surprised even her she had the blade out, ready to use it as it was needed.

"What are you –" Fenrir was cut off as suddenly his grasp on her was lost.

The world seemed to slip into slow motion for the next several moments. Fenrir was forced to take several large steps backwards to prevent himself from falling to the ground and hair stands flew through the air. Most of Lily's braided hair was still in Fenrir's clutches, leaving her with enough hair to barely reach her shoulders.

But what caught Fenrir's attention the most were the brightly glowing droplets of liquid that were sent flying through the air as Lily's head went forward upon being freed from his grasp. The seemed to hold a hope the girl had been losing, the courage she had lost and the energy to do whatever she needed.

These droplets were tears and they pierced the darkness of the chamber as a nightlight would a child's room. And like a nightlight it gave Lily the courage to survive in the darkness.

* * *

Poor Lily... But, hey, the weird tears are back O.o What's going to happen now? Are Tasuki, Chichiri and Hikou going to make it out alive?

Please review!

Thanks!

Oh yes, each year around this time I make a Christmas related fanfic... I have yet to start it, but this year I'm thinking of doing it for FushigiYuugi instead of Yu Yu Hakusho (as I have for the past three years). So keep a look out for it :D


	20. Chapter 20

I don't own FY

Gah, this chapter is updated later than I wanted T.T Sorry guys.

OMG! Over a hundred review for this story :D Thanks you guys!

Thanks for reviewing:

**BlAcKeSt StAr CaTcHeR**– we'll see what becomes of our hero :)

**Chichiri's Wanderer** – Awww, but cliffies are fun..erm… I think I'm going to need to hide before this chapter ends…. Hehehe… Lol. You have reviewing powers, sort of, just not that strong. Lol. Oooooh… shiny –is attracted to them-

**BoomKat **– Ah, sorter name XD That was a quick change O.o It really does now that you mention it. Lol. I have been obsessed with Naruto, but I will admit that I hadn't that in mind when I wrote the last chapters (I saw that episode back in summer before I went to college, so, ya, it was some time ago). Lol. A wee bit sneaky aren't we. I remember having to get up at six to get ready for school at seven-twenty O.o Not fun. Sorry for the delay!

**P-Chan **– I can see where you're coming from, but they're just as needed as any other part of this story. By switching back and forth it reminds the reader of what is going on. As the writer I know I tend to push other scenes from my mind as I'm writing out other parts, so it's more or less to act as a reminder of what is at stake and what is going on as Lily is fighting. Some authors would split these parts into different chapter (like Tolkien), but I figured just merging them would be more interesting. I'm sorry that you feel it's dragging because of this.

**Flames of Sadness Hurt and Betrayal **– We'll see what happens to Lily and the guys soon :)

**Nat** – Lol. But of course, here's the next chapter in fact :D I'm glad you're enjoying it!

**Noyesgirl**– Lol. You sound like me. It's so hard for me to find story's that grasp my full attention these days (I have a mind that like to wander off even when I'm in the middle of reading about a huge battle in a novel, such as the ending of the sixth Harry Potter book for instance XD). Aw, thank you! I hope you continue to enjoy this story :)

**D.D.Z.**– It's alright. Thanks for reviewing on both chapters :D We'll see what happens to our favorite characters.

* * *

**Chapter 20**

Kouran stared up at the huge foreboding building that had caused so much suffering and turmoil within two worlds with anxiety clearly written on her face. A fair amount of time had passed since she had last seen Lily and she had no way of knowing if the girl was alright or not. This frustrated her more than anything.

All she knew was that things on her side were not doing so well. The world around her was becoming darker as Fenrir's will spread further and further into it, making it change from something of nightmares into lands worse than even the seven pits of hell themselves. Storms, ones stronger than any the human race had ever before seen were brewing in the sky's, the wind from which was exceedingly powerful. Even Fenrir's dwelling could be heard creaking under it's intense might.

None of this effected Kouran however, at least not in a physical way. She was, after all, a ghost. This did not mean it did not trouble her mentally however. She had been dead long enough to know that anything occurring within the realm of the gods would soon find its way to the world of mortals and if these storms ever found there way there-

Shivering she pushed the thought from her mind. There was nothing she could do to prevent chaos from reaching the world she had once called home. Only Lily was capable of doing that, only she had the power to restore the natural order of things.

'She just needs to believe in herself,' Kouran thought before she silently sent a prayer to the locked gods, asking them to protect the girl from another world.

vvvv

Her head was pounding with a migraine, her cheeks were stinging from tears and bruises, side throbbing with broken bones cursing and limbs screaming painfully. Overall her body was suffering greatly, but her mind was telling her to get up anyway and her heart was telling her she could not give up.

Clenching her jaw Lily fought the pain coursing through her body as she came to sit upon her knees. Her side was in such agony that it was almost unbearable. A hearty bruise was already beginning to form there and worse yet it felt as if her ribs had punctured her lung because even the simple function of breathing pained her.

With a sharp intake of breath she brought one foot to rest on the ground and placed her free hand on her knee and used Kouji's sword in the other for extra support as she slowly climbed to her feet. The process proved more painful than sitting up had and she found herself doing everything to keep herself from crying out and falling over.

Fenrir watched her closely, intrigued by the fact that her body was still allowing her to move after all he had done to it. The girl confused him greatly because of things such as this. She had come to his domain with little courage running through her veins and had even been frightened beyond movement when she had entered his presence, yet, here she was refusing to fall. He could tell that she wanted nothing more than to get out of this predicament, but, for whatever reason, she would not allow her body that satisfaction. She was going to stay and get herself slaughtered for little more than the false hope the former gods had put into her feeble mind.

Lily smiled wearily to herself as she came to stand firmly on her feet. It had been a struggle, but she was finally where she needed to be to keep herself going, even if it had used more energy than she had originally thought.

With a small groan she lifted her free hand to her face to inspect the injuries that already resided there. Her fingers met the warm sticky feeling of fresh blood as well as the caked feeling of that which had dried. This only led her to believe that her bloody nose was finally beginning to slow down and heal. This, however, was the least of her worries for within her mouth she could taste the unmistakable flavor of iron as it swam about her tongue. It was the one thing that told her without a doubt that she did in fact have some kind of an internal injury.

This did not bode well, but, when she thought about it, her first day within the world, if not her first meeting with Tasuki, had all lead to this. However no matter what agony her mind and body was to be put through she would never regret meeting the redheaded bandit leader. He had helped bring her life back on track and had given her the will to not give up on life when it had only just begun.

'Duck,' a voice suddenly emerged within her mind.

She did not know why, but she complied without questioning. Not a second after her movement did a gust of wind pass just over her head and the strong presence of Fenrir came to stand directly in front of her. Without thinking Lily whipped her sword around, but Fenrir jumped back in time to evade being gutted.

"How could you know?" Fenrir growled. Up to present she had not been able to detect his movements, much less get an attack of her own off, yet she had just done both, even if the latter had missed.

Lily wasn't quite sure herself. All she knew was that a voice had popped into her head and gave her the simple command of how to move. Whoever it had been she was eternally grateful for the help, especially since there was little doubt in her mind that the assault would have once again knocked her down and potentially kept her down.

She had barely re-striated herself when the voice from before re-entered her mind, 'left.' Side stepping she once again found that she had dodged another assault. 'Back, left, jump, left, duck' the voice commanded one at a time as each assault came at her and with each one she complied with little delay, even if her body complained greatly.

Fenrir grew agitated with each attack she evaded. It did not seem logical that she could be doing so well and by the look on her face he knew she still could not see him.

Clenching her jaw Lily withheld crying of pain. All the movement might have kept her from gaining another injury, but the ones she currently had were utterly displeased with her and were sending surges of pain to her brain to make her more than aware of this fact.

'Sword,' the voice from before suddenly said with great haste.

Swinging the deadly weapon in front of her she heard the frightening yet satisfying sound of Fenrir's cry. Whether she had actually gotten him or simply surprised him would remain unknown to her however.

Blood trickled down the wanna-be god's cheek from a cut just under his eye. The cut was a minor one, just deep enough to let blood trickle, but the fact still remained that he had been injured by a blind-sighted girl. Snarling like that of a crazed wolf Fenrir charged forward at the girl, who still had her sword out as if to fight.

With a simple, but extremely hard, swipe of the back of his hand the sword was dislodged from Lily's grasp, an action that sprained one of her wrists. He was not at all surprised when she dodged two of his blows, but his third movement was deceptive on his part. He made the initial movement to swipe Lily's feet out from under her and she jumped to evade it, but she had no way of know that he had just tricked her. With a smirk he quickly corrected his stance and threw a powerful punch.

Unable to dodge due to her body being completely off the ground the voice in her head cursed and yelled for her to throw put her hands downward. As the dozen times before she complied without question, but she was not ready for the force behind Fenrir's assault.

The initial target had been the top of her chest, a blow to which would have broken her collarbones and, most likely, her sternum, but with her hands knocking into his the blow was redirected. It's unfortunate that she hand not put more force behind the block because if she had the blow could have been countered all together. The fact was, however, that she had not and it was because of this that a powerful blow was dealt to her tender stomach region.

For the third time in less than an hour the air was knocked from her lungs, but this time she was also sent flying through the air only for her back to smash into a column a few short yards away. A cry of pain would have been uttered had air been within her lungs, but the necessary substance had yet to re-enter her body to allow for even the most basic of operations to continue functioning properly. It was because of this that it was no surprise that her body fell to a crumpled heap upon the cold and hard ground of Fenrir's palace.

Coughing as if deathly ill her body tried to bring oxygen back to it. Her coughs were anything but dry however with blood splattered from her mouth violently.

When enough air had filled her lungs she forced her body to come up so she could sit upon her knees. The movement was unintelligent on her part, for her body was not ready to bear it and she was forced to put a hand out to keep herself from collapsing back onto the floor, her other hand wrapped around her stomach loosely. The blow had broken her lower ribs and it felt as it had also done more than a little damage to the soft organs that lay within her abdominal area.

As she took in a sharp breath she found her throat had became clogged and the only way to clear it was to allow herself to throw up. The contents her body released were not what usually consisted within vomit though, it consisted solely of blood and it was a rather large quantity of it. Tears poured from her closed eyes as she continued to choke upon her own blood.

Her body was done. It could no longer fight, no matter how much she would will it to. Her injuries were far too severe and her energy was nearly gone from her body. There was no way she could save anyone now, not even herself.

This fact brought the helpless girl to sobs as she continued to cough upon her blood. Despite everything she had tried, everything she had done, Fenrir was going to win and take the world as his prize.

Her tears dripped to the ground and like before they were once again aglow, however this time they did nothing to ease her mind or raise her spirits. They simply fell from her face to mix within the blood that had collected in a large pool below her.

She was dying and there was nothing she could do about it. 'Tasuki… I'm sorry,' her mind cried as her body physically did.

And with that thought said within her mind two arms wrapped around her gingerly as if an angel had finally arrived to ease her of her pain.

* * *

O.o

OMG! Has the end finally found Lily? What's going to happen to the guys? And the world?

Please review.

Thanks!


	21. Chapter 21

I don't own FY

Thanks for reviewing:

**Noyesgirl** - Lol. Because I could XD I'm so mean like that sometimes. Lol.

**bant**- Thank you and I've updated relatively quickly, no?

**D.D.Z.**– XD another one. Lol. I found it horribly fun to just leave you hanging, makes for good suspense :D

**BoomKat**- Lol. We shall see. Ah, the answer that one is 'yes'.

**Chichiri's Wanderer**- Oh, gee –points at Lily- _go hide in the corner, your not loved by this one_. Just kidding! Lol. Hm, is it? Hey, I didn't say that, I just said you don't have as much power as that, meaning you can't just pop in and make everything wonderful again. Lol. –eye twitches at Chichiri- Go sit in the closet –gets a weird look- "But I'm not gay" _… O.o I didn't mean it like that!_ (erm… can you tell I'm sleep deprived? Lol. I mean it's only 1:15 am!)

**Sariyu-chan**- hmm, what will happen –brings fingers together devilishly-

**Painted Angel Wings**- Lol. Another one who changed their pen name. That's cool though. It's amazing what people can tolerate when there's a huge weight on their shoulders isn't it O.o

**Schectersona**- That's what I do best. Lol XD

* * *

**Chapter 21**

As if a bolt of lighting had just stuck him Tasuki felt his body go numb. Something wasn't right. In fact it felt as if something had just gone terribly wrong. Looking about he could see that Chichiri and Hikou were still on their feet fighting, so whatever it was that had triggered the feeling had nothing to do with them…

"Tasuki!" Chichiri yelled, ripping him from his trance in time for the bandit to evade the dangerous claws of a tiger.

Cursing the redhead swatted away a wolf that had quickly followed before it had the chance to bring him any direct harm, but the movement reminded him of just how sore his muscles were. And, as if it wanted to bring further trouble to him, his mind was now in turmoil. What could the numb feeling have meant?

His muscles continued to scream at him as he moved about evading attacks and defending when he could not get out of the way. To his dismay he could see that his reaction time was slower than what it should be and as if to mock him in this state a tiger managed to swipe two of its great clawed fingers across the outside of his thigh, leaving two nice sized gashes to gush angrily.

With another curse one hand shot down to the wound as his body cringed from the pain it caused. Luckily he recovered from the feeling quickly enough to continue defending himself, though the area throbbed and his leg was most unpleased with being moved around.

A cry from his friends brought his attention over to Hikou for a brief moment. The unfortunate man had his left forearm locked between the powerful jaws of a wolf that had snuck up behind him. He struggled with the beast, trying to dislodge his arm from the sharp teeth that were like razors imbedded within his skin before the animal could rip the limb off. It was not an easy feat and he was quickly losing.

Finding a split second to act Hikou summoned a jet of water and used it to pierce through the beast's body, killing it almost instantly. Lacking the time to be careful he wrenched his arm out of the dead wolfs mouth and quickly came to stand firmly on his feet. The damage to his arm was substantial and his blood coated sleeve only aided in proving this fact. Had he the time he would have wrapped the wound tightly to slow the bleeding, but time was not on his side and to do so anyway could cost him his very life.

The unmistakable rattling of Chichiri's staff brought his attention from the battle to his childhood friend, only to see him quickly getting to his feet after being knocked down by a wolf. The staff that had been resting within the monks hands only moments before had been dislodged as he had fallen and slid across the ground for several feet before coming to a rattling halt.

Hikou would have stepped in and offered assistance to the man had a lizard not crept up on him and attempt to take a hearty chunk out of him. Luckily he had kept enough of his guard up to catch this with enough time to evade. But, just as the rest of the battle had proven, removing yourself from one danger only put you in another and he had no chance to try to and aid his friends.

Knowing that he wouldn't have much help Chichiri bolted towards his staff hoping he would reach it before being intersected. His hopes were dashed however when another wolf clamped its jaws tightly around his ankle.

With a cry the monk once again fell to the ground and only prevented his face from contacting first by thrusting his hands forward in pure act of instinct. While his face was saved from a broken nose and other such injuries his hands were cut up by the rough stone beneath them, but this was gone unnoticed for his ankle was being thrashed around violently within the powerful jaw the wolf as the beast tried to rip the limb from its socket.

There was no time for logic in this situation and the monk relied on skills that were more instinct than anything else- he turned onto his side and kicked the creature. The beast yelped and loosened its grip on his ankle, but did not let go. Now Chichiri was in a predicament because from his current position he could not kick the animal again with the force necessary to make it let go.

A loud growl quickly shifted his gaze to another problem, one even greater than the one he was currently in- there was another wolf not at his side staring at him viciously. His eye widened. There was no possible way he was going to get out of this! The wolf opened its jaws and leaned at him and he could only do one thing- cover his head with his arms.

Chichiri had expected to feel another set of sharp teeth tearing into his flesh, but instead he feel an extremely warm sensation, so warm in fact that it was almost burning him on one side of his body and a chilling wetness around the ankle that the other wolf was grasping. The next thing he knew he heard the unmistakable clatter of the bandits fan as it hit the ground followed by Hikou's cry of "Tasuki!"

Pulling his arms from his face he found parts of his clothing were singed and the wolf that had attempted to bite him was now lay dead some ways away with all its fur burned away. Looking down to his ankle he found the other wolf lying lifeless on the ground with his ankle still in its jaws. It appeared that this beast had been struck through the neck by something rather sharp and he instantly knew Hikou had been the one behind it, which explained why his leg was cold and wet.

Sitting up the monk removed his ankle from the dead creature's jaws, cringing as the teeth removed themselves from his skin. He was not at all surprised to see the area caked in blood, but he came to the chilling realization that he would not be able to walk, much less put any great amount of weight, if any at all, on it until it was healed.

Glancing up from a brief moment he saw Tasuki on the ground with Hikou standing at his side fending off the crazed beasts as they came at them. The bandit had used what little energy he had left to save him from being killed and for that the consequence was unconsciousness.

He would not let Tasuki's sacrifice be in vain and he would not let Hikou fight all alone. With that in mind the monk crawled to his staff and used it to help climb to his feet. If Hikou could fight with a badly damaged arm he could fight with an ankle in the same condition.

vvv

Something raised Lily to a sitting position and that something wrapped around her shoulders and pained abdomen gingerly, as well as pressed up against her back. Her senses were in far too much turmoil over her badly damaged body to even attempt to decipher what it was or how it had gotten there. All she knew was that the something around her was murmured into her ear, but she did not have a clue what was being said. It sounded as if they should have been words, yet she did not understand any of them. But she did not care what they meant because it seemed that with each one spoken her pain was slowly vanishing.

Even so she still felt outrageous amounts of agony and she was and exhausted- very exhausted. Her eye lids would have felt heavy had her eyes been open, which never helped in stopping her mind from slowly shutting itself down, nor did it help that her breathing was shortening into what could almost be called gasps. The only positive thing to all this was she no longer was choking on her own blood.

Whatever it was pressed against her tightened its grip around her shoulders and began murmuring slightly faster than before. It was almost as if it could sense that she was fading.

"How did you get here?" Fenrir roared angrily. The loud noise was almost defining to Lily's ears, but it had managed to snap her awake before she drifted off into an eternal sleep.

"You don't understand anything do you?" a harsh and powerful voice asked. Despite these factors the voice seemed much more pleasant than Fenrir's. In fact it sounded as pleasant as the voice that continued to murmur in her ear, even if that particular one was gentle but strong. Perhaps their voices held a magical like quality that made them so wondrous to hear, or perhaps she was just go glad to hear other voices for a change.

"You should use your eyes instead of your mouth for once Fenrir," another said, this one's voice sounded just as pleasant as the other two with its smooth but equally powerful voice.

Even in her tortured and exhausted mind Lily found herself wonder what had been meant by that. It was then that she came to realize something and was surprised she had not noticed it before- on the ground before her, within the pool of blood she had created in fact, was a circle made of twenty-seven glowing Chinese characters, none of which she could read, with four characters within the circle itself resting in a way that seemingly made a square. She had no clue what it meant, but knew something important had happened because of it.

"Did you really believe you could defy _our_ will?" yet another unseen person said. His voice was fierce yet strangely pleasant. Something in her mind clicked at hearing it. His tone might have been fierce, but she recognized the voice from somewhere and at a time when it had been gentle but demanding of her attention.

She tried to search her mind for the answer, but found that it was quickly returning to the state it had been in moments ago, a state that made it difficult to stay awake even if she wanted it to.

Once again the one holding her tightened his grip on her with the use of one arm, as she had determined it to be by now, but this time it was the one around her abdominal region. Whether it had been intentionally or accidentally done the act sent hot white flashes of pain surging into her already anguished mind and while it snapped her back awake she wondered if it had been worth the extra trauma.

Apparently in her pain she had whined loudly for the next thing her mind knew, after the white pain began to fade and she reopened her eyes, was that there was someone in front of her. For the first time since she had entered the dreadfully dark palace she could see something more than a glowing object. She could see someone.

They were not bright within her vision, but she could see them none the less. The figure was undeniably male and a very handsome one at that. His face was fair, eyes the purest of gold and the most beautiful silver hair she had ever seen adorned his head.

Lily simply stared at him for a moment, forgetting all about the murmuring in her ear, and he in turn gazed upon her with a worry. She had seen that face before. There was no way she could have forgotten it!

Taking in some much needed air she forced it through her vocal cords so that one simple, shocked name came out, "Byakko."

* * *

OMG! Are the guy's going to survive? And what's this! Have the gods really been released! But even if they have they couldn't stop Fenrir last time, will they be able to this time? Will Lily survive?

Find out as the last few chapters emerge!

Please review!

Thanks!


	22. Chapter 22

Hey everyone! I'm back… but if you want to know why it took so long to get this chapter up please refer to the beginning of chapter 25 in Silent Hope. I'm being a bit lazy and I don't want to repeat myself, but also I know there are readers of this story who also read that one, so I don't want to bore them with the same stuff XP 

Anywho, I will repeat this, PLEASE tell me if I am allowed to reply to your review. I know by replying it sends it right to your e-mail and I don't want to bother anyone if they don't care for a response. So PLEASE let me know so I can add your name to a list I'm starting to keep track of reviewers I can reply to (keep in mind you won't get a response right away. It'll probably come around the time of an upcoming update – meaning anywhere from 3 days before right up to the day of the update, think of it as a "watch out, update coming your way soon" kind of thing).

* * *

**Chapter 22**

The tiger god smiled wearily at the girl now before him. He was greatly worried for her, her injuries were severe after all, but a part of him was simply glad she remembered him. "You stood strong Lily," he said softly before reaching out and brushing a stray hair from her face, "thank you."

Fenrir's blood was beyond the boiling point. "You think she did you any good!" he roared. "I locked you away once before! I can do it again!"

The unseen person with the harsh voice laughed, "You took us all out one by one. How are you going to deal with all four of us fighting at once?"

"Don't underestimate him Seiryuu," the other unknown voice, aside from the one murmuring in Lily's ear, said quickly. "We can't take any chances with this one."

Fenrir snickered at this comment, "That's right you pathetic dragon. You've forgotten that you would have been easily subdued had your cat not shown up."

Those worry filled eyes gazing upon Lily suddenly narrowed dangerously as Byakko god glared at Fenrir from the corners of his eyes. Though he made no comment he knew Fenrir could feel his fury. He was hardly anyone's cat and he sorely disliked being referred to as if he were nothing but a kitten. Kittens, after all, did not have the ability to gouge out one's voice box, which was precisely what the tiger god felt like doing at the moment.

"Byakko," Lily coughed, causing the god to turn his full attention back to her. "Genrou and the others…"

"There's nothing we can do for them now," he softly, almost sadly replied. The arms around Lily tightened once more, causing her to cringe in pain. Unlike last time however the person instantly loosened.

Fenrir laughed in his usual shiver-sending manner. "The only way to save those human children is to defeat me."

Within an instant Byakko was on his feet, all attention now directed at the subject of his distaste. "And that is precisely what we will do!"

"Calm yourself Byakko," the one who had silenced Seiryuu moments before said flatly.

The would-be wolf god smirked in the darkness of his own castle. Even with this unexpected twist things could easily stay within his favor. The gods were being weary of him, even if they spoke out rashly, which meant they had a very strong weakness they wished to protect.

A weakness he was going to exploit.

Quickly and without warning Fenrir brought his hand up. The air was buzzing with the power emitting from the would-be god, a power the gods instantly recognized and placed themselves on the defensive to combat. The gods knew far too well that Fenrir had several aces up his sleeve, aces that could become a trump card in the bat of an eye if any one of them made a mistake.

"How did you fools ever become gods," Fenrir chuckled.

Byakko was about to rebuke when he felt something fly past his face, whipping his silvery locks about as if a twister had just blown by him. Not a second later there was yelp and the sound of smashing stone not far behind him.

"Lily!"

"She's alright," came the voice of the one who had yet to make an outright statement for all to hear, but was the one behind the murmuring in Lily's ear. The voice was farther away from Byakko than it had been moments before, concluding that it had bolted to get away from the shadowy assault.

Without turning his attention from his enemy the one last unnamed god asked his question, "You alright Suzaku?"

"Just earned myself a scratch Genbu," the phoenix god responded, as he moved back towards his allies carrying Lily bridal style, "nothing serious."

A maniacal laugh threatened to erupt from within Fenrir's throat as he watched the gods before him. "So I was right," he smirked, "you four are still bound to that girl's assistance. If she should die now, all of you would be locked back away without my hand having to do it for me."

This statement neither baffled nor frightened the gods, but the same could not be said for Lily. She was in the middle of a brawl that could rightfully be called a Battle of the Titans and she was still the key player. She could hardly move, even with all that Suzaku had majestically done to help her for the last several minutes. What on Earth, or whatever they wished to call their own world, could she do to help them any more than she had already?

"I suggest you leave Lily out of this battle Fenrir," Seiryuu said in a calm but strong voice. "It'll only mean your downfall if you don't."

"I would hardly call taking your job a downfall," the wolf snickered.

Lily clenched her jaw and squeezed her eyes shut as she felt her injuries in full force once more. Whatever Suzaku had been doing to ease her pain moments ago was quickly fading now that he had stopped and she was sure his quick movements to prevent her from being killed had not helped with her already ailing body.

"Seiryuu, Genbu, Byakko," the phoenix god began, "let us first remove ourselves from this dark abyss of a castle before we show Fenrir exactly what we are capable of."

Seiryuu smirked, "fine by me. I'm already feeling cramped in here."

'What are they planning?' Lily wondered through her pained mind.

No sooner had she finished the thought Suzaku gave her a friendly piece of advise, "count to three, then close your eyes and hold your breath."

There was no knowing what he and his fellow gods had planned, but she knew it was not advisable to ignore his words. The only trick was going to be holding her breath for any length of time, but she would have to do her best, even if it meant forcing her mind to deal with yet another dilemma concerning her body.

"Start counting," he whispered.

'One.'

"So what's the plan exactly?" Byakko asked as took his place in front of Suzaku to guard both him and Lily against any further assault.

Seiryuu cracked his knuckles with a smirk, "I thought it would be obvious. First we're going to rid ourselves of this sorry excuse for a castle. Then we're going to break Fenrir right through to his spirit."

"Do you honestly think you can defeat me, much less escape this place?" Fenrir questioned evilly. "You are in my domain. I am the only one who can allow you to leave."

'Two'

"Correction Fenrir, you are in _our_ domain. You've simply built this castle of yours on top of our grounds," this was voiced by none other than the calm Genbu.

"You've invaded our home long enough," Suzaku added, "it is high time we removed you from it."

'Three.'

Right before her closed her eyes Lily witnessed the emergence of four distinct colors within the chamber. What they were she could only guess, but judging that the one color, red in shade had been emitted from right beside her, it had something to do with the gods.

Taking in a deep breath she could taste something that resembled dust. What would have turned dust up all of a sudden? As if to answer her question a low rumbling began to over take her sense of hearing. It was as if the entire castle was shaking, yet she felt none of it for some reason.

Part of her wanted to open her eyes and try to find out what was going on, but the other half of her mind gave the reminder of Suzaku's words. So instead she clenched her eyelids shut even more and grasped a part of Suzaku's shirt as if frightened he would let her go.

The only response she got from the god to which she clung was the tightening of his strong arm around her to give reassurance as the rumbling increased ten fold and sharp cracking began to fill the air around them.

* * *

Fenrir – "Stop putting cracks in my castle!"

XD Couldn't resist. _Pirate's of the Caribbean_ is just to funny to not make fun of here.

So Lily's still important to the god's survival eh? What is it that she has left to do to fully free them from Fenrir and get them back to the way they were before the wolf's arrival?

Find out in the next action packed chapter of _Cry of the Gods... _(suddenly I feel like an announcer O.o)

Please Review (Era likey reviews …. O.o I've been reverted to a baby o.O Oh my XD)

Thank you!


	23. Chapter 23

I don't own Fushigi Yuugi 

Hey everyone. OK, I seriously need something to zap me when I reread my chapters XD. I added so much to this chapter it's not even funny O.o What should be two chapters has merged into one big one. This chapter had originally been just over three pages, but I revamped it and added a heck of a lot, so now it's eight pages long! Ah, my poor eyes. They've been burning since 10pm when I started rereading/revamping this and now it's 3:30am (doesn't help that I have a small attention span these days and I daze off or I'm multi tasking XD)

Anyway, thanks for reviewing to everyone who did, it's much appreciated :D

I hope you like this chapter, it's full of action and suspense.

vvvvv

**Chapter 23**

Kouran's eyes widened as she backed away from the dark looming castle before her. The earth beneath her very feet was quaking with tremendous force. Even the air trembled with anticipation of what was to come and the sky was still roaring loudly with its thunder and blaring with its blinding lightning.

The sight of the castle was incredible, frighteningly unbelievable and more than a little worrying. Never had she thought it possible for such a mighty structure move as this one did. The entire structure was trembling like a small boat on a turbulent ocean. The greatest of beasts to any builder flew wildly up and down the once strong stone blocks as they consumed it with little care for what it was or who was held within.

The building was falling to pieces.

"Lily…" there was nothing she could do for the girl but pray that she would be all right.

The noise all about her was atrocious. If she didn't go deaf, or in the very least burst an eardrum, she would be pleasantly surprised. She didn't know what was going on around her, but she could make a logical guess… or at least she would have had she not been concentrating on holding her breath and ignoring her body's fierce protesting.

There was one thing she knew for sure without even having to ponder it however - she was getting rather warm. Why, though, was the opportune question she could not answer at the moment due to her eyes being closed.

Someone was shouting something now, but all she could make out were scattered syllables. She could not even make out their tone, clouding the bearer of the voice even further in her mind.

All around her stone fell from its once stiff placement and crashed to the floor with a thundering clatter. Dust rose high into the air, its clouds thick enough to both suffocate and blind any caught within it, lest of course you were a god. It was for these reasons they had commanded the mortal girl to close her eyes and hold her breath, but this still left one predicament that could prove deadly.

Lily could only hold her breath for so long.

It was hard enough to hold her breath for over a minute when she was in perfect health. What wth all her injuries the effort was much harder and she was quickly reaching her limitations. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest and pressure building up in her throat as the carbon dioxide levels rose, calling for release. Even her mind was beginning to become fuzzy.

Squeezing her eyes shut even tighter she tried to hold on even longer. She couldn't give up yet. The gods still needed her. They were depending on her.

Her brain overtook her will and forced her mouth open to gasp for air. Right as she did so however something clamped over it - something warm, soft and slightly moist. Whatever it was it was somehow aiding her and she was not about to deny its help.

It was moments later that a breeze of humid air came by her face. While it was something so simple it held great meaning. The humid air was something coming in from outside the palace, a feat only possible because a wall had completely collapsed. This particular wall was not the only one to leave its post however. Throughout the palace fractures in the mighty stone brought them crumbling to the ground, allowing light to enter for what seemed like the first time.

The shadows that had lurked in every inch of the place were retracting, seeking out shelter from their enemy even if it was not strong due to the raging clouds outside. All tranquility for them and their master had been shattered and Fenrir was not about to let it all continue without a fight.

Faster than a human could react Fenrir charged forward at the four beast gods with all intention of stopping them from further destroying his dark dwelling. Unfortunately for him his opponents were not human and were not rendered helpless by his speed.

Lily felt the thing covering her mouth quickly pull back before Suzaku abruptly move further towards the breeze caressing her face. "You can open your eyes now Lily," his voice rang in her ears, greatly contrasting the sounds of falling rock she had been hearing for what seemed like hours.

Without delay the mortal girl opened her eyes and looked up at the god cradling her in his arms. His red hair was messier than it had been moments ago, yet looked as if there wasn't a single tangle to mare it. The next thing she laid her eyes upon was the dark palace behind him, causing her eyes to widen in alarm. Not only was she outside it, but there were gapping holes scattered throughout the building in such a way it reminded her of Swiss cheese. How it remained standing was beyond her. But now she understood why she had been getting warm before, Suzaku had been emitting energy to harm the building and that energy also acted as heat source around him.

"Lily, I have to put you down," her attention was brought right back to the phoenix god as he spoke to her. All she could do was nod, her voice lost in her bewilderment.

As her feet were placed on the ground Byakko startled her with a cry of, "No you don't!" Turning her gaze to the other gods she found him missing, but his location was quickly figured out. Fenrir has attempted to assault Suzaku when his back was turned and the tiger god had reacted to prevent his comrade and Lily from being injured. Much to his disappointment however he missed hitting the wolf, but he did succeed in fending him off for the moment.

"Next time hit him Byakko," Seiryuu voiced. He, like his fellow gods, understood such a stunt was not as easy as it sounded, his comment have simply been one Suzaku would have most likely made had it been him attacking Fenrir instead of Byakko.

"Don't worry, I will."

A faint smile played on Suzaku's lips at the tiger gods reply. "Lily, can you walk?" the girl looked down at her feet, her hands still locked on his forearms for support, as she judged the pain in her system and the sturdiness of her legs. Whatever happened in the castle to keep her from suffocating had somehow also helped in healing her, but she was by no means back to health.

Taking in a deep breath she nodded, "I think so."

"Good," he bent down slightly and kissed her forehead. His lips were so soft against her skin, even a bit on the warm and moist side.

It was then that she realized just what happened in the castle to save her. Blushing madly she tried to deny it, but every thought came back to one thing. Suzaku had kissed her. A god had kissed her!

"Go find Kouran and seek out shelter," Suzaku's voice broke through her trance, "things are going to become too dangerous for you here."

She blinked in confusion, "but there's still something I have to help you with. Fenrir said so back in the palace and none of you denied it." She looked anxiously up at him, "what is it that I have to do." She suddenly cringed as a sharp pain erupted from her side.

"There is still something that you can do to greatly help us," the god of the south told her softly, "but I wish for you not to."

"Why?" she asked through gritted teeth. Perhaps thinking her injuries were bearable had been a bit over zealous.

Seiryuu turned his head to her, leaving Genbu to dash off and help Byakko before Fenrir could overpower him. "We may be gods, but that doesn't mean we don't we have a conscience." He crossed his arms, "because of us you were brought to this world and have had to deal with more than even our priestess had to."

"But-"

A finger on her lips cut her off. "You have released us from captivity. We cannot rightfully ask more of you," Suzaku to told her gently. "This should have been a task for our priestess, but they have since come and gone. They were bound to us in their time and this would have been their duty had they been here. Now however we are bound to you and it pains us to see you harmed."

Lily pulled away from the finger that had silenced her. "I've been harmed my entire life," she told him, "the only difference is, these wounds are physical."

"And I do not wish to further them," Suzaku replied, his tone slightly on the stern side. He sounded much like a parent speaking to a child, not a god speaking to someone who should look up to him.

A sudden cry of surprise brought their attention to their two friends and comrades currently battling Fenrir. Byakko hadn't managed to get himself out of the way when the would-be-god sent a fist flying his way and was now several yards away from his previous placement. Sitting up the god rubbed his now soar chest before getting to his feet and running back into battle.

"My actions are my own," Lily tried to fight with the god.

"And they effect other people," Seiryuu interjected before Suzaku could respond. "Now get out of her, we don't have time to play with you anymore."

Suzaku frowned at the comment, but said nothing about it. "Go," was all he said to Lily, "We can't protect you and ourselves at the same time, not against Fenrir." With that said he turned his back to her and raced off to aid his comrades in battle.

Lily looked over to Seiryuu, whose gaze was locked on the battle before him. Silently she knew he would not move until she was safely away from all this. He would stay to protect her in case Fenrir managed to get away from the three gods and come after to her.

Fenrir's words came back to haunt her mind, '_You four are still bound to that girl's assistance. If she should die now, all of you would be locked back away without my hand having to do it for me.'_

Biting her lip she knew she had no choice, she would have to listen to the command and leave. Staying would only make her a nuisance, especially since it meant the dragon god would not enter the battle.

"Seiryuu," her voice quivered slightly at the aspect of what she was about to say to the great dragon god, whose eyes were trained on her even though his face was still pointed towards the battle. "You better beat him."

A rare smile formed upon the gods pale lips, but it went unseen by Lily as she turned and ran from the battle. She didn't know what possessed her to run, especially with all the pain scorching her body, but she wanted the gods to fight without worrying and this was the only way she knew of to allow it.

Shimmering tears ran down her face as she raced on. All she wanted to do was help, but the gods would no longer allow it, even though they knew they needed it. What was there left for her to do?

As each droplet fell from her face to the ground it glistened like a star in the night sky. In its wake the dead grass sprung to life for a short moment before withering back into its former state.

vvvv

Genbu saved himself from a bad collision with the ground by throwing his hands out in front of him. Nonetheless there was a sharp pain coming from his cheek, which was now bright red and beginning to change color as a bruise began to form. His black hair was coming loose of its knot, causing stay pieces to fall into his face and tickle his skin.

With great haste the tortoise god picked himself up and brushed his hair from his face. "This would be easier if we could change forms," he growled as Byakko skidded to a halt not far from him after having blocked a powerful assault.

"True," Byakko replied as he shook his soar arms, "but Lily would be in trouble."

"Her trouble would be over at that point," Genbu corrected before jumping back into the fight.

Byakko frowned, knowing his comrade was right. Nonetheless it could not be denied that they were at a great disadvantage without their true forms being accessible. If Fenrir were to go into his true form they would be in quite a bind.

Seeing Seiryuu being knocked back made the tiger god shake his head. "There's no time to think of such things," he reminded himself before lunging back into battle.

Even with four of them attacking the would-be-god conditions were far from being in their favor. It was something that made them feel as if they were humans fighting a god instead of gods fighting a demon.

Suzaku grunted as his chin was forced upward from a palm strike. Seeing an opening Byakko moved to tackle the wolf, but Fenrir was not about to be taken down so easily. Even with his back turned to the tiger god he managed to clench his hand, twist his body, throw his arm out towards Byakko and open his hand just as contact was made between the two of them.

The contact was not in Byakko's favor however. A strange energy was thrown out from the extended hand and coursed through god's body, throwing him back quite far. The impact was harsh on his back, but it did not stop him from turning onto his side to get up.

Or at least he tried to get up.

As soon as he started pulling his body from the ground shadowy vines ripped out of the earth and webbed around his body to form a net, pinning him to where he lay. "What in the blazes!" Byakko roared as he tried to break the bond upon him. His struggling only caused the vines to tighten however.

vvvv

The air carried Byakko's voice to Lily causing the girl to stop and turned around. Panting for breath she clutching her stomach in stomach in pain as she squinted to find the god amongst the battle. She had run some way since Seiryuu had entered the fight, but she could still make out who each god was due to their different styles of clothing.

It took her a moment but she finally realized that Byakko was no longer in the battle, but on the floor. This had only occurred to he after Seiryuu seemed to be trying to pull something off of what seemed like a black mound from her perspective. There was little doubt in her mind that mound was actually Byakko entrapped in some trickery caused by Fenrir.

"Lily!" The girl snapped her head to the side and saw a familiar woman jogging toward her.

"Kouran," she breathed, a smile on her face.

"My word!" the ghostly woman gasped as she came to stand in front of the living girl. "You look like you've been through a war."

"I might as well have been. Fenrir… kind of beat me up."

"Kind of? He tortured you!"

She had no idea how much she was right and Lily wasn't going to reveal it. Turning back to the battle she saw Seiryuu hit the ground several yards away where Byakko lay helplessly.

"This doesn't look good," Kouran voiced Lily's thoughts. "Why don't they change forms, surely that would be easier."

"No idea," Lily murmured in response.

The two of them watched the battle for several minutes. The gods were being pushed around badly. It seemed that for every one blow they gave Fenrir he gave five back. It was not a fair fight, not by any means. The gods should have the advantage! What was wrong?

When she saw Genbu get tossed by a shadowy whip while protecting Byakko she lost her cool. "I have to help them," she cried before darting back towards the battle.

"Wait! Lily!"

Kouran's words fell upon deaf ears as Lily raced onward. Adrenalin was pumping through her veins, causing her mind to forget the pain she was in and letting her run even faster.

The gods might have wanted her to get out of harms reach, but they needed her. She had to figure out what it was she had to do to aid them.

Genrou and the others were all depending on her.

vvvv

Byakko cursed as the vines continued to constrict around him. Even a god had their limitations and if he couldn't get free soon he would be crushed. Seiryuu's valiant attempt to free him had only caused the vines to become tighter and no amount of his own strength or abilities were breaking it either.

Digging his fingers into the dirt he tried once more to free himself. He pushed against the vines with all his might, bearing the pain of them digging into his skin. Seiryuu once again managed to fend off Fenrir to aid him in his struggle. Looping his fingers around a cross section in the vine made net the dragon god pulled as hard as he could, his heels digging into the ground as he did so. The vines dug into his fingers, drawing blood, but he merely clenched his jaw and tried to pull even harder.

The thing just would not budge.

"Seiryuu, look out!"

The god only had time to look up and see a large blur before he was thrown away from Byakko once more. Fenrir's shadow tricks were getting to be a huge nuisance, but there was nothing they could do to stop them from happening.

Fenrir pulled his arms to his chest before throwing them out to his sides, where both Suzaku and Genbu were. A jettison of shadows flew from them, crashing into the two gods and sending them onto their backs.

Now there was no one standing to protect Byakko from an attack.

"Damn you wolf," the tiger god snarled.

Fenrir smirked as he pointed a finger at him, "I may be damned, but you're about to be dead." A line of shadow as wide as three fingers flew from his outstretched finger.

Just as this happened someone, presumably Seiryuu in Byakko's mind, jumped over the entrapped god, landing low on their legs. The attack that had been meant to kill the tiger god hit the one in front of him, going clear through their chest and majestically stopping inches from his own face.

The save had been valiant but very reckless, the latter of which was very unlike Seiryuu, who normally calculated his every move before making it.

Byakko's eyes widened as realization dawned upon him. It was not Seiryuu who had saved him. No, the one before him had long brown hair, not blue, and it was a she, not a he.

"Lily," he gasped.

Vvvv

O.o

Uh oh… What's going to happen to Lily? What's going to happen to the gods? And what the heck is up with her tears? Lets not forget the guys either. They're in quite a bind themselves!

I hope you liked this unusually long chapter. It's a little late, I know. I'm sorry. But it is twice the normal size –hopes she will be forgiven-

Oh and remember to let me know if you want me to reply to your review if you haven't already.

Please review.

Thank you!


	24. Chapter 24

I don't own Fushigi Yuugi

Hey everyone. For those who let me reply to their reviews (sorry if I missed anyone I was doing it quickly last week on the night before I left home) they were alerted that my updates were going to be late. I found out after my last update that my parents were planning a small vacation on the way to my college, so we left a week earlier than I had originally thought. I didn't get onto campus until Saturday and then I was running around setting up my new room and getting supplies and such. So I actually didn't sit down on my computer until Monday, which was the first day of classes.

Updates maybe slow from here on out. I didn't get as far on these stories as I thought I would by now, so please be patient. I'm going to do my absolute best to update quickly.

For a few other details please see my bio (kind of important in my mind, explains a lot, but is only two paragraphs long). It's at the very end of the blog (right before the list of stories).

But hey, my birthday is tomorrow ... but I don't want to get any older -cries-

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**Chapter 24**

Byakko stared up at the mortal girl in horror. She had saved him from certain death, but now… Cursing under his breath he once again tried breaking the shadowy net that bound him to the ground. The strands cut into his skin and bent his chest plate, but he paid it no heed as he struggled with his captor.

Tears streaked Lily's face as she desperately gasped for air. Her blood stained hand rest gently over her injury as if she hoped to rid herself of the gruesome injury that gave no signs of relenting on its drastic flow. Slowly her fingers curled around her shirt and her face scrunched up in pain and desperation.

"Mortals are so weak," Fenrir mused aloud. It had been a shock for even him to have Lily jump in front of what should have been the implement of Byakko's demise. He would not argue however, he had wanted the girl dead for quite some time and the delinquent of a child had done it herself. Had he know it would have been this easy he wouldn't have pushed himself to get rid of her before now.

"Fenrir," Byakko growled as she continued to struggle with the netting. Unlike his last fight with it however it was actually moving against his might, slowly relenting to his strength as his anger amounted to new levels.

The wolf smirked, "growl all you want cat, you're not getting free of those bonds."

"You're fortunate I can't turn into my natural form," Byakko half snarled. "I'd take pleasure in digging my teeth into your worthless hide."

"Is that so?" the question was one said with a vile plot behind it, one that worried the tiger god as the beast of his annoyance moved closer to the injured teen.

"Leave her alone!"

vvv

Chichiri fell to one knee as his ankle once again gave out on him. Clutching his staff tightly he gritted his teeth and pulling himself back onto his feet. His face was pale, almost pasty, with a thin line of sweat lining his skin. His ankle was in very poor condition and wasn't about to give him any slack. If he placed any kind of weight on it it would not hesitate to buckle and cause him to fall, as it had several times already.

"Houjun, you alright?" Hikou called out to his friend.

"Given our predicament," Chichiri began as he balanced himself on one leg and defended himself from the crazed beasts about him, "yes."

Tasuki still lay unconscious on the ground where he had fallen. Scratches and bruises decorated his face and limbs, some of which had been obtained after he had fallen. Hikou and Chichiri were having a difficult time protecting him, let alone themselves, but they were not about to give up. They had come too far to simply give up now.

As they fought on a white tiger fell back onto its haunches, sapphire eyes trained onto his prey. It knew its prey was cunning, but weak from the long battle. The beast could win if it was to be more cunning than his meal.

And tigers were cunning by nature.

In the blink of an eye the beast's great muscles shifted forward as it lunged in a way only an animal of it's nature could accomplish.

vvv

There was nothing she could do to protect herself from the assault that came her way in the form of a backhand. It was Fenrir's twisted way of mocking and taunting her, to show her just how weak she really was. The slap was not very hard, it wouldn't have fazed the four beast gods, but to her badly injured body it was too much.

Her body twisted and her legs gave out beneath her, causing her to collapse into a rather uncomfortable position. She was saved from breaking anything due to her arms instinctively flying out to protect her, but the collision still sent white hot flashes of pain searing through every fiber of her body. On top of all that the taste of iron in her mouth nearly made her gag.

"Lily," Byakko pushed against the netting that still refused to snap against the stain he placed against it. His golden eyes were filled with worry as he watched the helpless girl struggling to even breath. She had come back to protect him and came back to be involved in something she never should have had to endure in the first place.

Coughing, Lily forced the blood out of her mouth and throat. It was deja vu all over again and it was not the sort she had ever wished to repeat. She really needed learn how to keep her emotions from getting the best of her, but even so, she was glad Byakko was safe.

"Lily, Lily, Lily," Fenrir mocked Byakko's worried tone. "That's all you worthless gods have been talking about. Not about fighting me or protecting those who foolishly praise you and ask for aid in their pitiful lives. All your concern lies in this –" he grabbed a fist full of Lily's hair and gave a rough tug, " – this mortal wench who can't listen to direction and who's weak heart has been stolen by the damned bird's bandit seshi."

He chuckled vilely, "and might I add that the boy is currently unconscious and will soon be a hearty snack for one of my beasts."

"Gen-ro," Lily murmured. She had been trying so hard to help them all – her friends, the gods and the people who were in grave danger because of Fenrir's appearance. It couldn't come to a roaring halt now! So much had already been done, defeating Fenrir was all that was left. Order was so close to being restored.

Fresh tears slid down her face, each shining magnificently in the bleak lighting of the stormy day. Her chest was uncomfortably warm and was throbbing as her life spilled from her. Making her feel even worse was the pain in her head caused by Fenrir tight grasp on her hair. The pain was on the boarder of being too much for her to handle.

"Keep crying brat," Fenrir said snidely, "it's all you're good for."

It was in that moment that he finally took notice of the strangeness of her tears. Curiously he let one slide onto his outstretched index finger, only to have to whip it to the side to get it off and remove the burning sensation from his skin. The pain it brought him was like nothing he had ever felt before and it greatly angered him. "What –"

All attention was directed to his left as a very displeased Suzaku cried his name. The distasteful and vexed look in his fiery eyes would have been beyond mortifying for any human to witness, but Fenrir was not of the race and so felt no such emotion.

In an instant Lily fell flat onto the ground. Her hair was in a great mess and some was even plastered onto her face. Fenrir was gone from her side, gone from all view, as if he had never been there to begin with. Not even Suzaku knew where he had gone.

Skidding to a halt the bird god narrowly missed crashing into the injured girl. With narrowed eyes he glanced all about him with the hopes of spotting the nuisance that had invaded his home world before he had a chance to surprise him. He had no such luck however, wherever Fenrir had gone he could neither see nor sense him. All he could do was keep his guard up.

His wait for the wolf's appearance was not long. Just as he knelt down to aid Lily he received a fierce blow right to the center of his face, effectively knocking him back. Suzaku's hand flew directly to his broken nose as he lay on his back and uttered words Lily could neither understand nor wished to.

Fenrir was once again standing at her side, arms crossed over his chest. "I would have thought you'd remember I have the ability to manipulate the shadows. I guess I gave you far too much credit."

"Too little credit is more like it," Seiryuu yelled just before tackling the would-be-god to the ground.

Genbu was the last of the gods to become re-involved in the conflict and his appearance was not to help Seiryuu. He had come to help Lily. Gently he placed an arm around her shoulders and turned her over, being very mindful of her gruesome injury as he did so. Her groans of pain worried him, but he was not at all surprised to hear them, if anything he was relived because it meant she was still alive.

She hissed when the tortoise god picked her up. The less she moved the less pain she felt, but even in her agony she knew the dangers of her current placement. She would have preferred another way to be moved however, not that she could think of a better way.

"Hang in there kid," he softly told her. Gingerly he scooped her up and carried her the few feet to where Byakko still lay entrapped in the net. Neither god had missed the pool of blood that had formed beneath the teen nor did they miss the sight of the fresh grass that lay where her head had once been. Neither, however, spoke a word about it, not wanting to attract any more attention than necessary.

Lily could scarcely stay up on her own as Genbu sat her down. It took several moments for the him to help her into a steady position, which ended up having one leg curled in towards her body and the other leg was placed so her knee was in the air, allowing her to carefully rest her chest upon it for support.

Looking up the black haired god saw Kouran standing not far away. She was quite wise for being cautious and keeping her distance, even in her worry for Lily. Even as a ghost she was not safe from Fenrir. Without hesitation the wolf could destroy her soul and she would cease to exist all together.

He would not worry for the ghostly woman however, she knew to be on her guard and stay away. It was something he wished Lily had picked up on, but her current condition was without a doubt their fault. They had asked far too much of her and had underestimated her personality, one which willed her to help those in need no matter what the cost was to herself. She was truly a selfless girl, a rare commodity amongst humans and for that he was thankful. He knew they had been very lucky to be able to call upon such a person to help them, but no one had foreseen the dangers to this extreme.

They were going to have to live with the consciences.

"Genbu, watch it," Byakko warned.

A quick glace over his shoulder was all the dark haired god needed to know Fenrir's attention was now on him. Closing his dark eyes he pulled himself to his feet and faced the object of all their problems. "Hurry up and get out of there Byakko, we need your help."

"Sure, no problem. Just let me finish my tea," his tone was one of sheer exasperation.

Before Genbu could respond Fenrir was before him. There was just enough time for him to throw and arm up in a typical martial arts defensive block before he was struck, his face hardened with his determination. The action had caught the wolf off guard, as did the god's next movement.

In a flash the tortoise god thrust his free palm forward, connecting it with his enemy's chest. While the blow was strong on it's own it was the force of the wind which followed that sent Fenrir catapulting back in the direction he had come from. He was tossed and turned as it trapped within a tornado and could not free himself of it until his body came in contact with the hard ground.

Raising a brow Genbu looked at his hand. The occurrence of the wind was not unknown to him, but he had not expected it. Since his release all his powers had been locked away inside of him, just as his natural form was. Something was breaking that seal.

-----

So what's breaking the seal? Is Lily going to survive?

Please review

Thanks.


	25. Chapter 25

I don't own FY

Sorry it took so long to update. My schedule has been full since day one of school O.o Seriously. I've been in school for… what, five weeks now and every weekend has been packed with homework (and masses of it. By that I mean I work ALL day. I'm not joking, it's ridiculous how much stuff I have to do!) I'm hoping to get my animations up on the net by the next update, so those of you who are interested can see what I've been slaving over.

And some of you might be going, "I didn't get an e-mail!" I know and I'm sorry. I've had very little time (as it is I should be doing homework now, but I feel bad about not updating in so long) and I thought that writing the chapter with time I have instead of reply's to review was something you'd all appreciate (I hope I'm not wrong T.T)

But thank you for reviewing everyone who did!

Hopefully _Silent Hope_ will be updated soon, but I can't promise anything, I haven't even started writing it. I'll jump on that ASAP.

vvvv

**Chapter 25**

Byakko stared up at the tortoise god, half shocked. "Was that what I think it was?"

"Yes" was the response, "but I'm not sure as to why."

Lily brought her gaze up to Genbu, only to have her attention captured by something behind him. Her brain hadn't even registered what it was until Byakko yelled a warning. In an instant Genbu was gone from her sight and in his place was the fuming Fenrir, his fist outstretched.

"You pests have been allowed to live for far too long."

Byakko, while worried for Genbu who had just been ruthlessly hit, growled loudly, "the only pest I see here is you Fenrir."

"Is that so?" Fenrir questioned with narrowed eyes as he moved towards him. "Am I to listen to the opinion of a flea ridden, untamable wild cat?" A hideous smirk appeared upon his lips as he looked at Lily, "or perhaps you have been tamed."

"I'm a god, not a crazed wild animal such as yourself."

Fenrir's smirk quickly turned into a strait line as his expression became dangerous. The comment had apparently hit a nerve, a very sensitive on at that. Usually Byakko wouldn't have been worried, but given his current predicament he would have been a fool to not be. But even beyond the worry of what might become of him he was greatly worried for Lily, who still sat at his side clutching her wound. All he could do was hope he had forgotten she was there because of his anger.

He got his wish. All of Fenrir's attention was on him, not Lily, but that unfortunately brought a world of pain flying his way in the form of a kick. The blow smashed into his already damaged chest plate, causing it to dig into his skin and break several ribs. It also knocked the wind out of him and sent him to ground as his arms giving out.

"You're place is in the dirt," Fenrir growled and he further pushed on the god with his foot. "Remember that."

Byakko growled from deep in his throat as only one with feline background could. Between the snide comments, being stepped on as if he were a weak creature and the ever vexing pain caused by his crushed breast plate, the tiger god's was ready to sink his fangs into the wolf before proceeding to rip him limb from limb.

Things began to look even grimmer for the god as Fenrir raised his hand high into the air. He was more than ready to rid himself of the pesky god once and for all. No more games or entrapments were necessary, he's just kill them all off and have the moronic human being bowing at his feet in fear as he cast devastation upon their lives. It was a perfect plan.

A sudden movement caught the would-be god off guard and he stumbled backwards quickly thinking he was at threat. Instead the one behind the movement was none other than Lily as she came to lay against Byakko in a protective manner – her arms wrapped around his strong shoulders.

"Lily?" Byakko was just as surprised as his enemy. The girl was gravely wounded and yet she refused to lay still and, more importantly, remain unnoticed. She was hurting herself to save him.

She was dying in order to save him.

"You never learn do you girl?" the wolf seemed almost amused.

Lily's fingers tightened around Byakko's shoulders. She refused to let him go. She couldn't let go. The gods needed her and she was going to do all she could for them.

A fresh batch of tears welled up in her eyes. Her skin was raw from all the crying she had been doing and the tears only stung as they trailed down her face.

A single tear let go of its bond to her skin and elegantly fell away from her, glistening brighter than any tear before it. As it fell it seemed to almost have a life of its very own. A life meant for giving hope.

Byakko flinched ever so slightly as the strange sensation of something wet, warm, and surprisingly soft met his cheek. Looking up through the corners of his eyes he knew immediately what it was.

Lily her jaw tightly clenched and those majestic tears flowed from her closed eyelids. This did not startle him however, what caught his attention and made his eyes widen was the blood caked on her lips and chin. It was a sure sign that blood had fully risen within her throat.

"I'm sick of this pointless drama," Fenrir began forming something within his hands. Just as so many times before however he was stopped before he could finish. This time it was through a jettison of flame sent by none other than Suzaku.

With Fenrir now distracted by his fellow god, Byakko could concentrate on Lily. The girl was locked in what he would call a comatose like state, even if she continued to cry. No matter how he tried his words just could not break her from her state. And with his arms to pinned to the ground by the netting he couldn't even attempt to take her hand.

"Lily, please say something," he was nearly begging by this point. Her silence was unnerving.

No words emerged from her however. The only signs that she was in fact still alive came from the air that brushed against Byakko's cheek as she exhaled, even if her breathing was very uneven, and the constant flow of tears streaming down her face. How much longer she would be around was the real issue. It was one that seemed to have no correction, or rather, one that Fenrir would give them enough time to fulfill.

He watched as yet another tear trailed down to the very tip of her nose and dangled for a few moments. But this time when it fell it did not land on him, instead it struck the constricting net around him. Immediately following came horrid hissing noise as the place of contact bubbled and spitted ferociously. It seemed almost as if the tear had invoked a battle with net – one in which the net would lose.

With a great snap the strand broke from its hold. It might not have seemed like much at first glance, but because of the nets nature – to constrict – it put ample force on the surrounding strands. One by one the stands surrounding it began to break, causing a domino like effect throughout the net.

Byakko, who had initially be shocked at the horrendous noise the net was making, ripped the would-be cage off of himself as soon as he had a hand free. He was mindful of Lily's placement however as he did so, knowing that shifting her too much too quickly would bring even greater harm to her.

"Lily," he carefully and slowly twisted himself on the ground, gently removing her tightly clenched fingers from his shoulders as he did so. In the end Lily came to rest upon Byakko's chest, where upon he carefully sat up with her in his lap. Her head rest against his shoulder, one arm in her lap, the other on his legs, hair strewn in every which direction and clothes completely caked in blood.

"Lily," he repeated as he took her hand in his, his voice becoming lighter with each syllable, "say something – anything."

Silence was once again his answer and her messenger. "Lily," he murmured softly, mournfully, as he held her close to him. Her pale face, scare breathing and unyielding tears ripped at him as nothing ever had before.

Here was a girl, not of their world or the one to which they governed, dying because of something they had asked her to do. She had been shy, quiet and withheld when she had arrived, but she had grown strong and courageous because of them, but more importantly because of the friends she had made - friends who had been at her side the entire time. She had even found love in one of Suzaku's seshi and even though it still remained unsaid it was understood.

And when the final task came down before her she strode ahead without hesitation. She had walked right into a danger to which she could not understand nor possibly combat. Fearful as she may have been she never let it overcome her.

She had done all they had asked and more. Not only had she freed him and his fellow gods, an act she had scarcely survived through, she had saved him… twice. She had been told to run, to get away, but she had only partially listened. They knew she was capable of helping them further, capable of releasing them completely from Fenrir's bond so they could have all their natural skills and even their forms back, but none of them had been willing to put her in any more danger.

And yet danger was where they had placed her from the very start.

Byakko's resolve could no longer hold itself. The pain caused by his breastplate digging into his ribs was forgotten and the sounds of battle became unheard. All he knew was the shattering of the barrier around his emotions and the tears that streamed down his fair face.

All he could feel was the raging pain in his heart as he cradled Lily's lifeless form helplessly.

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